


It Started Out With A Kiss

by frankiesin



Series: The Marching Band AU [2]
Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, Mindless Self Indulgence, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Marching Band, Band camp, Coming Out, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Genderfluid Gerard Way, Multi, Pete's a little gay, Pining, dramatic gayness, dumb high school kids, no one in band is straight, together but not together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-15 09:17:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5780236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankiesin/pseuds/frankiesin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank likes Gerard. Fact. Frank is gay. Fact. Gerard is not a guy. Also fact. </p><p>Frank is not as gay as planned, but band camp is just as fuckin' weird as usual.</p><p>Marching Band AU, main story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coming out of my cage

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! A multi-chaptered thing! That will explain most everyone's origin stories! 
> 
> The other parts of this series can be read with out this, and you don't need to read the other parts to understand this (theoretically). 
> 
> Gee does get misgendered in the beginning, but that's only because they haven't come out to everyone in the band and so no one actually knows their pronouns yet.

Band camp was the best week of Frank’s life, probably, and he was going to get to do it two more times before he graduated high school. This was his second band camp, a week in late July before he started his sophomore year of high school, but according to Ray and Gerard, who were a year ahead of him, band camp got better each year you attended it. Frank trusted them. Ray was a pure being of sunshine and would never purposely hurt someone, and Gerard was going to be one of the drum majors this year, so they were both very reliable sources.

 

“Frank!” Someone called out, and then Frank was being toppled over by his friend and fellow woodwind, Jamia. She ruffled his hair and then let go of him. “Have you checked in yet?”

 

“Not yet. I’m waiting for Ray. We’re rooming together this year, so I’m kind of hoping I’ll be able to convince him to carry up some of my shit, since he keeps getting taller and I keep not getting taller.” Frank said, grinning even though he was still a little bitter about the increasing height difference between him and his friend. Jamia rolled her eyes. Ray was nice, but they both knew that he wouldn’t carry any of Frank’s shit, especially since Frank had decided, in a last minute streak of inspiration and sleep deprivation, to bring his brand new guitar with him to band camp. It had seemed like a good idea when he had been packing the back of his mom’s minivan the night before, but now that he was here, he wasn’t sure exactly when he was supposed to use said guitar. 

 

“Wait, so you’re not rooming with Gerard?” Jamia asked him.

 

“No, when I asked him if he wanted to room with me he said that he already had a roommate.” Frank said, and shrugged. “It’s probably Mikey, though, so I’m not offended that I got snubbed or anything.”

 

“Uh-huh. Sure you’re not.” Jamia said, jamming her elbow into Frank’s side and smirking up at him. Frank rolled his eyes and pretended that it was the sun that was making his face heat up. Frank had had a crush on Gerard for as long as he could remember (actually, he had developed the crush during drama camp the summer before he started fifth grade, and he had been getting gayer ever since), but only Jamia and Ray knew about it. Ray knew because Frank needed to tell someone and he knew that Ray wouldn’t judge him for it, or tell anyone about it. Jamia knew because she had weird girl powers and could just pick up on shit like that. 

 

She also had a huge crush on Gerard’s best friend, Lindsey, and had been trying to get Lindsey to notice her for years. Speaking of which, “So, are you rooming with Lindsey this year then?”

 

“Actually, no. I’m not.” Jamia said. “And she doesn’t have a conveniently placed freshman sibling as an excuse not to, so I’m kind of confused as to why she wasn’t interested.”

 

“Maybe she’s not gay?” Frank suggested, but Jamia shook her head. “No, last year she told me she’s into girls and guys and apparently everyone in between, but maybe I’m just not part of that?”

 

“Doubt it.” Frank said. “Just ask her out.”

 

“I will if you ask Gerard out.” Jamia retorted, and Frank was back to pretending that the sun was hotter than it actually was. Because he was not blushing, because that was so lame and he was better than that. 

 

Luckily, he didn’t have to come up with a retort because he spotted Ray coming up across the parking lot, sunglasses on and dragging a suitcase behind him. His mom was nowhere in sight and he was grinning, which Frank knew meant one thing: the motherfucker got his license. Frank set his guitar down and sprinted over to Ray, not giving a shit about the stares he would probably get from everyone else. They were in band, surely they were used to weird shit happening all the time. 

 

Frank launched himself at Ray without any warning, but Ray managed to catch him and so Frank did not hit the pavement and suffer a premature death. Frank wrapped his legs around Ray’s torso. “You got your license, didn’t you?”

 

“Hell yeah I did!” Ray said. “I’d show it to you if I could actually reach my fucking arms.”

 

“Let me have my moment.” Frank said, but he let go and dropped back to the ground anyway, bouncing on his toes. Ray dug into his pocket until he pulled out his wallet and opened it so that Frank could see the actual official driver’s license. The picture was shitty, but Frank had yet to see a driver's license picture that actually looked good so he didn’t care. He gave Ray a high five. “Nice.”

 

“Thanks. My mom tried to drive me here but I convinced her that my first drive alone had to be somewhere special and she let it go.” Ray shoved his wallet back into his shorts and then kicked Frank’s ankle. “Move, Iero. Let’s go get checked in so you can show me your guitar.”

 

“How do you know I even brought it?” Frank asked, but he started moving anyway. 

 

“Because I know you.” Ray said. “And because I saw you holding the case before you ran at me. Hey Jamia.”

 

“Hey Ray.” She said. She followed Frank and Ray to the back of the line once Frank had gotten all his stuff together. Ray had, as both Frank and Jamia expected, refused to carry Frank’s things for him. Frank had tried, though, and that was what mattered. 

 

The three of them were going over band camp stories from the previous year (especially the one where Lindsey “accidentally” hit Brendon in the back of his head with her trombone slide) when Frank happened to look past Jamia. Three people were coming up across the parking lot. Frank’s eyes widened when he realised who they were. “Holy  _ shit _ , is that…?”

 

It was Gerard, obviously, with Lindsey and Mikey (Gerard’s younger brother) flanking him like some kind of bodyguard system. That wasn’t the surprising part. The surprising part was what Gerard was wearing: a Misfits shirt with the sleeves cut off, a black and red plaid mini-skirt, and fucking stockings. He looked like the male version of Lindsey, but in an oddly flattering way. Frank had never imagined Gerard in a skirt, mainly because Frank couldn’t imagine Gerard in anything fancier than jeans, but he was pulling it off.

 

He was  _ really _ pulling it off. Frank slapped Ray on the arm, because Ray was not paying enough attention to the fact that Gerard was in a skirt and Frank was liking it. “Ray what the fuck, is that Gerard?”

 

“They go by Gee, dude, didn’t they tell you?” Ray said, like Gerard--Gee--in a skirt was a totally normal thing that happened every day. 

 

At least Jamia was just as confused as Frank. Her face was all scrunched up and she was looking at Ray for some kind of explanation. Ray shook his head. “I seriously thought they had told you already. Look, Frank, just ask Gee about it at dinner. It’s not my place to tell you.”

 

* * *

Frank wasn’t sure if he had a latent skirt kink that Gee had brought out of him, or if it was a “Gee doing literally anything” kink and the skirt had just made his crush on Gee all that more obvious. Either way, Frank needed it to be dinner time right the fuck then.

 

He had already unpacked everything except for his guitar, which was safely stashed in its case and leaning against the wall beside Frank’s bed. Ray was still unpacking and had put in his earbuds twenty minutes ago so that he could concentrate on unpacking and not Frank badgering him for information about Gee’s sudden interest in cross-dressing. 

 

Frank knew that Gee was into gender shit. He just hadn’t expected a skirt to come out of it all. He wasn’t sure how to react, other than a series of question marks flying around in his head.

 

“Aaaagghhh.” Frank closed his eyes and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyelids, because for some reason he thought that that would help him figure out what the fuck was going on. It didn’t, and it only made his eyes hurt. Frank turned over to his side and stared at Ray, waiting for Ray to turn around and notice him. Ray probably had psychic powers. It would explain his ability to see through everyone's bullshit and get everyone to trust him with their secrets. Ray was like the nice version of Gretchen Weiners or something. 

 

“Did you just compare me to one of the Plastics?” Ray turned around and pulled an earbud out. Frank lifted his head. “Yeah. You, me, and Gee could totally be the Plastics. Gee could be Regina and I'd be Karen. Lindsey's Cady.”

 

“Lindsey's not Cady, what the fuck.” Ray shook his head. “Patrick could be Cady. He's innocent enough.”

 

“Who's Lindsey, then?” Frank rolled over onto his back and let his head hang off the edge of the bed. 

 

Ray started coiling his earbuds around his phone. “The fake lesbian? I forgot her name, but the one who does all the really cool art and has the best ‘I'm sorry’ speech at the end.”

 

“And then Pete can be the too gay to function guy.” Frank said, pointing his finger at Ray’s face for emphasis. Ray shook his head. “Dude, Pete's not even gay.”

 

“Pete's a little gay.”

 

“And you're a little straight.” 

 

Frank flicked at Ray's face even though Ray was too far away and too tall for Frank to reach. “Fuck you, I am the gayest gay in this entire band. I'm, like, the token gay.”

 

“You can't be the token gay if most of the band is gay, Frank.” Ray said. He shoved his phone into his pocket. “Get off the bed. I just got a text from Jamia and apparently Brendon and Dallon are having a competition of who knows and can sing the most show tunes.”

 

Frank flipped over onto his stomach. “Who's winning?”

 

“Gee.”

 

“I'm not surprised.” Frank rolled his eyes. Gee practically bled Broadway musicals, when he wasn't too busy bleeding vampires and other cool shit. Gee was a fucking enigma sometimes. Frank loved him.

 

* * *

Ray and Frank arrived downstairs in time to hear Brendon's loud ass voice accurately belting out the lyrics to  _ Wicked _ like he was the actual wicked witch of the west. Frank told Ray this and Ray laughed, right as Dallon started singing over Brendon. Because apparently it was a duet. Brendon and Dallon were interesting. Brendon was a bisexual slut (he wasn't a slut because he was bisexual, he just happened to date and hook up with a lot of people), and Dallon was… Dallon was a series of question marks and bad dad jokes. Frank was pretty sure that he wasn't straight and that he had a thing for Brendon, but he was also bad at detecting fellow gays. 

 

Everyone in marching band acted gayer than they actually were. It was frustrating. 

 

“Frank, Ray, oh my God thank fuck you showed up!” Jamia appeared out of nowhere, nearly knocking Frank off of his feet. “It's getting ridiculous. They kicked Gee and Lindsey out like three minutes ago because Gee kept out-singing Brendon and Lindsey threatened to get her trombone again.”

 

“Why are you still here, though?” Ray asked. Jamia let go of Frank. “Because Lindsey told me she was getting the trombone anyway, fuck what Brendon said.”

 

Frank grinned. “I want to see this.”

 

Brendon and Dallon had now switched to that “I can do anything better than you” song that Frank heard anytime there was an argument in the band room. Dallon was singing the girl part for some reason. Brendon opened his mouth to sing over Dallon but instead of his voice, all anyone could hear was a very loud, very aggressive trombone noise. It came from the balcony above the main commons area. 

 

“Fuck yeah, Lindsey Ballato!” Kitty Dunn called out. Lindsey lowered her trombone. “Fuck yeah, Kitty Dunn!”

 

“You cut me off!” Brendon pointed up at Lindsey (and Gee, who was standing beside her and filming the whole thing on his phone). “I banned you from this room!”

 

“I'm on the balcony, Breadbin! I'm not in the room!” 

 

Ray leaned over to whisper into Frank's ear, “this is incredible. I told you band camp gets better each year.”

 

“You were not fucking kidding.” Frank said. 

 

Lindsey blew into her trombone again, like she was getting ready to make an announcement. She looked down, scanning the crowd until she locked eyes with Jamia, who was standing on Frank's left. “Jamia, where're Pete and Mikey?”

 

“They didn't answer the door.” Jamia shrugged. “And Mikey already knows, so he can just tell Pete later.”

 

Frank frowned. “Tell Pete what? What's going on?”

 

Ray patted Frank on the top of his head. “You'll see.”

 

“Okay, well, Pete’ll have to figure this shit out on his own. Or Patrick and Joe can tell him, right?” Lindsey asked. There was a noise of confirmation from Patrick and Joe, who were both seated on one of the couches that had been broken since forever. It was everyone’s favourite couch. Frank wasn’t sure how exactly Patrick and Joe had gotten it without anyone trying to fight them for it. He wasn’t super concerned about that, though. He was more interested in why Lindsey was making trombone announcements from the top of the balcony and demanding that everyone in the band be there when she did. 

 

Lindsey pulled her trombone back over the railing. “Everyone except Pete, because he’s a lame meme who can’t even leave his room for the most important news ever, listen up! Gee has an announcement.”

 

“Lindsey do we really have to do it like this?” Gee asked. Frank could barely hear him. Lindsey shook her head. “Nope. You said you wanted to do a verbal mass text, this is a verbal mass text. Announce away.”

 

“I hate you.” Gee rolled his eyes and stepped forward. He gripped onto the railing with both of his hands. He was nervous, which Frank could understand. Frank didn’t even know what Gee was about to announce to the whole band, but he was still in a skirt and he wasn’t the type of person to actually announce something big verbally. He ran a twitter account that was basically an inside link to all the thoughts that went through his brain. Frank followed Gee’s twitter religiously. Gee’s twitter had probably been the reason Frank almost failed Geography last year, because he had cared too much about what Gee was tweeting to actually pay attention in class. 

 

Frank watched as Gee closed his eyes and scratched at the railing with his bitten down fingernails. Gee opened his eyes again, and he was looking at Frank (and Ray and Jamia, but Frank was going to pretend that Gee was looking just at him. Because he could). “So, hi. I think most of you know who I am. I’m… okay so technically my name is Gerard, but, like, I don’t want to be  _ called _ Gerard. Not that it’s a bad name. It’s a good name, I like the name, it’s just… I’m trans. Well, not like, trans-trans, where I’m suddenly this super feminine girl and I’m wearing make-up and skirts and shit all the time. I’m wearing that now. But, I’m not always going to wear that? Because sometimes I just wanna wear, like, a hoodie or something. Being pretty is a lot of work. Also, I’m not a girl.”

 

Gee paused, and made a face. “I am a girl. Sometimes. And sometimes I’m a boy. I’m genderfluid? It basically means that I don’t have one specific gender and I just kind of float around in the gender void, doing my thing and wearing what I want. But, I’m not Gerard. Just call me Gee, because I like Gee, and it’s gender-neutral, which is nice. And, also, don’t call me a boy? Or ‘he’? I like gender-neutral pronouns.”

 

Lindsey leaned forward, over the railing. “They and them, guys.”

 

“Thanks.” Gee smiled at Lindsey, and she nudged their shoulder. Gee turned back to the band. “Yeah, so. That happened. Don’t be a jerk or purposely misgender me because then Lindsey’ll have to beat you up with her trombone, and the police will get involved and then it will get traced back to me, and I really don’t want to go to jail because someone was an asshole.”

 

“I will gladly go to jail if anyone starts talking shit.” Lindsey said. She looked pretty fucking intimidating too, up there with her trombone and her blood red lipstick. “This band is hella fucking gay already, so don’t ruin our image by being a transphobic little dildo.”

 

Gee pointed to Lindsey. “What she said.”

 

There were a few seconds of silence, while everyone digested what had just happened, and then Patrick fucking Stump, the purest being of all, started clapping. And Joe, because Joe was Patrick’s second or third best friend (behind Pete and potentially Andy), joined in, and Brendon as well because Brendon was loud and flamboyant and loved pretty much anything loud and flamboyant, and soon the whole room was fucking clapping. For Gee. Because the whole fucking band was a group of gay, supportive nerds and Frank really hadn’t expected anything else, but yet, there he was, fucking tearing up like a baby, all because Gee had to go and choose the most ridiculous way to come out. 

 

And because Frank was a fucking gay nerd like the rest of this band, he ran off. Not back to his room to do some dumb, melodramatic thing. No, he ran up the stairs and around the balcony over to where Gee and Lindsey were standing and Gee was holding their hand to their face. Frank didn’t give Gee any warning, just barrelled into them and sent the both of them to the floor. Lindsey, because she was a better, more coordinated person than literally everyone else, got out of the way.

 

Frank wrapped his arms around Gee and pressed his face to Gee’s neck. “What the fuck, Gee, why didn’t you tell me earlier? Like, I’m glad you’re comfortable enough to come out, but…”

 

“Frankie, come on, I told three other people besides you.” Gee was petting Frank’s hair. Frank was literally going to die from too many emotions. “And one of them was Mikey, so that doesn’t really count.”

 

Frank lifted his head and fake-pouted at Gee. “I thought I was special. How could you betray our friendship like this?”

 

“I’m sorry, Frank, I didn’t mean to tell Ray, but it just slipped out because he’s just a super nice person and he makes you feel bad for hiding things from him without meaning too, and I told Lindsey because I was too afraid to get girly clothes on my own and--”

 

“Oh my God, shut up, I’m not even mad.” Frank face-planted back onto Gee again. “I’m so fucking proud of you du--Gee. Shit, I’m gonna fuck up and get pummelled by a trombone, aren’t I?”

 

From where he was pressing his face against Gee, Frank could feel Gee lean their head back to look up at Lindsey. He could also feel it when they talked. “Lindsey, don’t hit Frank with your trombone if he slips up, okay? He’s one of my best friends besides you and Ray and even though he says he’s not mad I still feel bad for not coming out to him first. So, be nice?”

 

“I’m always nice, Gee, what the fuck are you talking about?” Lindsey said. Still with his face pressed against Gee, Frank lifted one of his hands and stuck his middle finger up in the general direction of Lindsey Ballato. Lindsey laughed. “Dude, you’re not even close. You’re flicking off the whole band.”

 

Frank lifted his head. “Sorry! I was aiming for Lindsey!”

 

“Your aim sucks!”

 

“Fuck you, Joe!” Frank yelled back, waving his hand at them all. Gee poked him in the side, a subtle hint to get the fuck off, and so Frank did, rolling over so that both he and Gee were on their backs and looking up at Lindsey and the ceiling. Frank turned his head to the side. “So, I have questions, but they can wait, you know?”

  
“Yeah, I know. Me and Lindsey were planning to sneak over to you and Ray’s room tonight for a friendship pow-wow.” Gee said. They were smiling, and crying a little, and even though their makeup had run a little because of the crying and the being tackled to the floor, they looked super fucking happy. Frank’s heart did a dumb little cartwheel in his chest. He was so fucked. He so didn’t care anymore.


	2. And I've been doing just fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank, Ray, Lindsey, and Gee have a sleepover. Things are discussed. Food is thrown out of windows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here'c chapter two! It's kind of a filler and there's some stuff that's repeated from other parts of the series (but I don't know if everyone's reading the entire series so I included it anyway), but don't worry. Things will start to happen. Very soon.

“Okay, so, obvious first question,” Frank said, leaning over Lindsey to grab a handful of M&M’s from the bowl at the end of his bed, “but when did you figure this whole gender thing out?”

 

Gee leaned their head in from the window, blowing a stream of smoke into the room. They weren’t supposed to smoke in the dorms, but the fire alarms were turned off during the summer anyway and it wasn’t like Frank didn’t know how to use Febreeze. It wasn’t like Gee or Lindsey didn’t know how to use Febreeze either, and Ray didn’t have to worry about getting caught smoking, because no one actually thought he smoked. Oh, the benefits of being the good kid. Something Frank would never get. Ever. 

 

Gee reached their hand out and Lindsey passed them the M&M’s. “Last Christmas. I’d been thinking about gender for a while, but I never really thought about my own until then. One of my cousins got this really cool makeup kit, and I dunno, I just was really into it. Everyone except for Mikey just assumed it was some artist thing.”

 

“Wait, so did Mikey know before you?” Ray asked. “Because that’s a total Mikey thing to do.”

 

Gee shrugged, and passed the bowl back. “He probably did, or was at least like  _ Gee’s not a cis but I can’t actually tell them that because what if my Mikey powers are getting fucked up? _ I figured out that my gender was everything a few days after Christmas, and then immediately went over to his room and told him.”

 

“What was his reaction?” Frank asked. 

 

“He hugged me and told me that he’d kick anyone who said shit to me about it.” Gee said. Their cigarette hand twitched. “I don’t want him to get into fights with anyone, though. He’s so tiny and awkward, he trips over his own legs sometimes.”

 

“That’s why you have me and Lindsey and Frank.” Ray said. Gee pulled their arm in and took a drag from their cigarette, raising an eyebrow. Ray tucked one of his legs under himself. “We’ll kick people’s asses so that you don’t have to worry about Mikey doing it and getting hurt.”

 

“Okay but Frank’s tinier and awkward and trips over his dogs.” Gee said. Frank threw an M&M at them but missed and so the M&M just sailed sadly out through the window. Lindsey laughed. Frank didn’t throw an M&M at her, because he liked his dick where it was and knew better. “You both suck, and I don’t trip over my dogs. I love them too much to trip over them. And I could knock any of you over. I could  _ fight  _ any of you,  _ and  _ kick your ass.”

 

Lindsey raised an eyebrow. “Even mine?”

 

Frank tried to shrink back into his sheets. “Uh…”

 

“Aww, he’s so cute and small.” Ray said, his voice all mocking and motherly and shit. Frank threw another M&M and it hit Ray’s nose. Ray was sitting closer than Gee, though, so Frank hadn’t just gotten lucky. He could throw shit. 

 

“You are all about five years old, and I don’t trust any of you to protect me from bigoted assholes.” Gee said. “Therefore, I’m gonna just do it myself.”

 

“You have fun with that.” Lindsey said, because she was a truly supportive friend and also knew that Gee didn’t really mean that. Sure, Gee looked intimidating when they weren’t all cleaned up and wearing cute skirts and lipgloss, but they weren’t dangerous at all. They picked up stray cats and took care of of them despite being allergic to cats. Ray’s and Lindsey’s houses were constantly filled with the cats that made Gee sneeze too much. Frank didn’t get any cats because he was too busy trying to become the legal father of every dog he made eye contact with. Frank had dogs, Gee was on their way to becoming a crazy cat lady, the Earth went around the sun. But Gee was not an intimidating person once you got to know them. 

 

“I will.” Gee said, and winked at Lindsey. Frank knew it was just one of their little friendship things, but he still felt that all-familiar twinge of jealously that went through him every time Gee did anything flirty with someone else. It was dumb, it was unnecessary, and it was out of line because it wasn’t as though Frank was actually dating Gee. He wasn’t. He  _ wanted  _ to, but he was too nervous to tell anyone (except Jamia and Ray) about his crush, let alone do something crazy like  _ ask Gee out _ . So Frank just suffered and pined in silence. 

 

Gee stared at their cigarette for a moment. “So, any more questions?”

 

Frank chewed on his fingernail. “Uh, yeah. The gender thing doesn’t affect your sexuality, does it? You’re still pansexual?”

 

Gee nodded. “Yep. Anyone’s still on the table, regardless of gender. Now I just have to worry about people rejecting me because I don’t fit  _ their _ sexuality.”

 

“Just date people in band, Gee.” Ray said. Frank resisted the urge to whip his head around and give Ray his best Death Glare. “I’m the straightest person in this band and I’m pretty sure I’m a little bisexual.”

 

“You can’t be  _ a little bisexual _ .” Lindsey said, rolling her eyes. Ray shrugged. “You can if you’re Frank’s height.”

 

“Fuck you, I am a full homo.” Frank was not throwing another M&M. Ray didn’t deserve it. “And whatever happened to Pete ‘I’m straighter than Mikeyway’s finished hair’ Wentz? Did he quit or something?”

 

“No but he pulled me aside after dinner and started asking me all these questions about how to know if he was gay or not.” Ray said. Casually. Completely casually, like witnessing people’s sexual identity crises was a normal thing for him. It probably was, because even though Ray was the closest thing this band had to a Token Straight Friend, he was the one everyone came out to first. Except Gee, who came out to Mikey first because Mikey was their little brother and the two of them kind of came as a set. 

 

“Wait, Pete came out to you after dinner?” Lindsey asked. Gee frowned. “Are you outing him without his consent?”

 

Ray shook his head. “He didn’t come out to me, and I would never do that, Gee. I was just saying that he’s  _ questioning _ his sexuality, and I told him that, yes, I’m supportive and all that shit, but I’m not the person to go to for the whole ‘am I gay?” questioning. Mainly because I’m not that gay and so I don’t really know what it’s like to suddenly go, ‘oh wow! Boys!’ I never did that.”

 

Frank narrowed his eyes. “But you said you were a little bisexual.”

 

Ray shrugged. “Chris Evans.”

 

Frank nodded. “Okay, true.”

 

“I agree with the boys.” Lindsey said, raising her hand like they were back in school and taking a vote. “Even though I am a self-proclaimed lesbian at the moment, I would not say no if he asked. That man is built like a dorito and has a better ass than Brendon Urie.”

 

Gee clicked their fingers and pointed to Lindsey. “That is true.”

 

“Why does Brendon have such a nice ass? Like, who did he kill in a past life to get a nice ass?” Frank flopped down on his stomach. “I think he stole my ass. I have like the flattest ass in the world and it’s not fair.”

 

“Become a bisexual slut and enlarge your forehead, I don’t know.” Gee said. The fact that that wasn’t bad advice meant something. Frank just didn’t know how to enlarge his forehead. He blew up at his bangs. “I would be the worst bisexual ever, though. I’m too gay.”

 

“I think if you were attracted to a non-binary person you’d still count as bisexual?” Lindsey asked, turning to Gee for confirmation. Gee nodded. Lindsey turned back to Frank. “So just find someone non-binary that you think is cute, and then have a lot of sex. Boom, nice ass acquired.” 

 

Frank stared up at her. “I don't know a lot about science but I know enough to know that that's probably not how it works.”

 

“Dude, you said ‘know’ like three times.” Ray said. Frank fake-pouted. “Stop being so mean to me. I just found out I'm going to have a permanently flat ass.”

 

“It could be worse.” Gee offered. Frank lifted his head off the bed. “How could it be worse, Gee? Tell me.”

 

“You could be straight and a fuckboy.” Gee said. Ray actually shuddered. “Oh my God, Frank would be the most obnoxious fuckboy  _ ever _ .” 

 

“I would, though. I'd be one of those weed fuckboys.” Frank said. Lindsey poked him with her knee. “You already are a weed fuckboy. A gay weed fuckboy, but still a fuckboy.”

 

“I don't think you're a fuckboy, Frank.” Gee said. Frank lifted his head, ignoring the whooshy feeling in his chest, ready to thank Gee for stand up for him. Gee was smiling, though, a tiny little smile that was cute because it was on Gee’s face but was also the most deadly smile. Gee kicked their legs in the air. “I just think you're a really gay weed.”

 

“Fuck all of you, I need better friends.” Frank dropped his head back down onto the bed. And then he screamed into the mattress, because it seemed like an appropriate thing to do in the moment. It got Gee to laugh, and Gee had a really dumb, cute laugh so Frank considered the whole thing to be a success. Frank smiled into the mattress and screamed again. Lindsey bopped the top on his head. “Stop that, it sounds like you're having really weird sex.”

 

“Who's he having sex with, if you're a lesbian and he's a gay?” Ray asked. Frank turned his head to the side so that he could see Ray. “Your mom.”

 

“My mom’s a woman, why are you having sex with her?” Ray asked. Frank rolled his eyes. He didn't say anything else, though, and just kind of laid there, face half squished into the mattress and his flat ass up for anyone to see. Not that anyone was actually staring at his ass, because as established earlier, Frank did not have the greatest ass in the world despite all his efforts otherwise. 

 

Gee coughed and Frank's head shot up. Because that wasn't obvious at all. Frank flicked his bangs out of his face. “Gee are you okay?”

 

“Yeah I just spaced out and choked on some dust or something.” They waved their cigarette hand at Frank, a small trail of smoke following their hand. “It happens sometimes.”

 

“Okay, cool.” Frank said. “Well, not cool. Choking on dust is not cool. But, cool that it's not going to kill you or anything.”

 

Gee rolled their eyes. “Thanks for your support, Frank, it's always good to know that my friends care about me.”

 

Frank gave them a thumbs-up. Because he was supportive, and he definitely cared about Gee. He cared about Gee more than was normal for a friend to care about another friend, but that was because, well, Frank wanted to be more than just a friend of Gee’s. It was ridiculous. He couldn’t look at Gee as anything but  _ cute crush who is making me less gay _ . He wasn’t sure he wanted to, except it might make his life easier if he wasn’t spending half his time pining over them. He might actually be able to focus on school. Might. He would probably just find something else to spend hours thinking about if he ever stopped crushing on Gee.

 

Lindsey’s phone buzzed dangerously close to Frank’s head, and he almost flipped off the bed. Lindsey laughed at him as he scrabbled to stay on, and he could see both Ray and Gee fighting to not join her as he righted himself. Frank didn’t flick any of them off. Frank was trying to be nice. 

 

Lindsey opened her phone and her face was lit up. “Kitty just texted me and said that Schechter was sending some chaperones to check if we’re all in our rooms. Gee and I should probably get back before we get caught.”

 

“Oh, yeah, because you two are definitely getting up to heterosexual shenanigans with me and Ray.” Frank said. Lindsey swatted at his head. “Shut up, Frank. I don’t want to get kicked out before band camp even starts. That’s fucking lame.”

 

“Technically, band camp itself is lame.” Ray said, and got three betrayed looks in response. Ray threw up his hands. “Don’t kill me, I’m talking objectively. I mean, band kids are kind of the bottom of the social ranks in high school, right? So a week long band thing is, in the eyes of the average high schooler, lame.”

 

Gee stubbed out their cigarette on the brick outside of the dorm. “He’s right. We are kind of lame.”

 

“But in band, we’re the cool kids, right?” Frank asked. “I mean, Ray’s everyone’s mom, you’re one of the fucking drum majors, and Lindsey’s the token BAMF?”

 

“And what about you, Frank?” Lindsey said, sliding off of Frank’s bed and fixing her skirt as she did so. She stood up, placing her hands on her hips. “What about you makes you cool in the band gang?”

 

“I have a mohawk and a pierced lip. I’m owning all of your asses in the cool department.” Frank said. The mohawk was new, and it had almost made his mom pass out when she first saw it (though that was probably because he had bleached the shit out of the buzzed sides), but the lip ring was not new. Frank was the only one in the band with piercings outside of his nose, and most of the other band members didn’t understand how he could play saxophone with a lip ring. Because of that, most band kids (especially the ones who didn’t know him very well) thought he was a lot cooler than he actually was. Frank was not going to explain that although he might look like an angsty punk teen, he was really a small child made up of dogs and too much coffee. 

 

Gee shook their head. “I’m leaving, Frank. I can’t be friends with someone cool.”

 

Frank frowned. “What? Why not?”

 

“It ruins their aesthetic.” Ray said. Gee nodded. “Yeah, I have to surround myself with awkward people so that I don’t look as awkward in comparison. If you’re cool, you’ll throw off the aesthetic.”

 

“Okay, I lied, I’m not cool.” Frank said, a little too quickly. Gee laughed. Lindsey reached out and patted him on the head. “It’s okay, Frank, we accept you for the lame ass punk you are.”

 

“Thanks.” Frank wasn’t sure how sarcastic he was being.

 

“But I’m serious. Gee and I should probably go.” Lindsey said, motioning with her finger for Gee to get up and follow her out. They did, waving at Ray and Frank as they left. Ray waited until the door closed completely and then he turned to Frank with his arms folded over his chest and a smug smile on his face. Frank dropped his head back onto the bed. He couldn’t see Ray, but he could feel Ray watching him. “So. You’re still into Gee.”

 

“Was that a question?” Frank asked the mattress.

 

“Nope.” Ray said. Frank groaned into the mattress. He lifted his head enough that he could see Ray through his hair. His mouth and nose were still mostly against the covers. “Was it obvious? I was trying to not be obvious.”

 

Ray shrugged. “It wasn’t any more obvious than usual.” 

 

Frank rolled his eyes. “Am I usually obvious?”

 

Ray nodded. Frank dropped his head back onto the bed. “Fucking fantastic.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, please leave a kudo or a comment or something?
> 
> Also, one of my friends requested that I do some Brallon, so there might be some Brallon in this AU. Or it might get it's own little one shot.


	3. Not Every Chapter Is A Line From Mr Brightside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's hot as fuck during band practice. Also, Gee panics and Mikey is acting suspicious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. I don't have much to say about it, sorry!
> 
> However, I did write a Brallon if anyone's into that?

It was hot as shit and Frank was going to die. Okay, that was an exaggeration, he wasn’t actually going to die because he was hydrated and he wasn’t wearing jeans, but he _felt_ like he was going to die. He was going to end up really tan, which he hated. He thought that he looked stupid with a tan. Like he was trying to be some cool surfer dude from California or something. Frank didn’t know how to surf. He didn’t even know how to skateboard, even though he had one and was trying to figure it out.

 

Frank pushed his hair back out of his face for the thousandth time in the past hour and tried not to flinch when he touched his sax. It was really hot, because metal and sunlight and the laws of physics or some shit. He already knew the damn part, so that wasn’t a problem. The problem was that Gee and Jimmy (the two drum majors) were trying to make Frank run around on a field when it was too hot to even be outside. Frank envied the pit crew. They got to stay inside, where it was cool and air-conditioned and not Satan’s asshole, and they didn’t have to run around in patterns that didn’t make any fucking sense.

 

Frank loved Gee (probably), but they were too creative to be a drum major. They had too much of a vision, and Jimmy was just ridiculous enough to go along with it. Frank wanted to remind the drum majors that just because his saxophone was shiny and he was small, did not mean that he was a part of the colourguard. It wasn’t his job to run around and look like some weird ballerina. His job was to play sax and kick ass.

 

“Gee, my children are going to pass out!” Brendon called out, like he had any actual authority. “We need a water break!”

 

Gee opened their mouth, looking concerned for all the baby flutes (Brendon liked to refer to the freshmen in his section as his children), but Jimmy was shaking his head. “No fucking way, Beebo. Tell your babies to grow up. This is high school, and we don’t fuck around.”

 

Brendon looked like he was about to use his flute as a javelin. Frank made eye contact with Lindsey, who was halfway across the field with the other trombones and still holding her instrument at attention. She mimicked knocking out the trombone in front of her, and Frank gave her a thumbs up. If practice suddenly went to hell, Lindsey would handle it. Lindsey was scary as shit. Frank didn’t know why she hadn’t been made drum major. He would ask her about that later, when he wasn’t sweating through his shirt.

 

“Fine, but if anyone passes out I’m going to kick your ass.” Brendon said, and he looked like he meant it. Lindsey was laughing in the background. Frank wasn’t sure who would win in a fight between Brendon and Jimmy. He couldn’t see either of them really fighting anything. They were more talk than anything, and would probably spend the first hour of the fight puffing their chests out and trying to out-peacock each other.

 

Honestly, Frank would watch just for that. It would be entertaining as shit.

 

Jimmy and Brendon did not get into a fight, and practice continued as always. There was a water break, and Frank spent his ten minutes of freedom pouring as much water as he could onto himself, and into himself. There was something really satisfying about getting drenched in slightly cold bottled water after standing in the sun for hours on end. That, and Frank figured his sweat would be all mixed in with the water and he wouldn’t look so gross. Because it was important to not look like shit on the marching field. It made him better than everyone else, who tended to look like they had just run a marathon at the end of the day.

 

Frank’s hair dripped steadily onto his nose and his saxophone for the next three hours, until Jimmy and Gee called time and everyone rushed to their rooms, somehow thinking they’d have time to shower before dinner. Frank knew better, from last year, but he still tried anyway.

 

There were four showers in the boys side of the dorms, and there were about forty-five guys in the band. The bathrooms smelled like sweaty socks and grass, and they were loud as fuck. Frank was small, though, and so he could duck under people and weave his way to the front of the line for the showers. He only lost his shirt, but luckily one of the guys from the drumline, Dewees, picked it up and asked whose it was. Frank waved his free hand in the air, and the shirt was tossed to him. It was a little damp from being on the floor and around a bunch of sweaty high school guys, but it was better than walking around half naked.

 

Frank didn’t see Gee, but he wasn’t surprised. Gee was allergic to showers sometimes, even at bandcamp where everyone smelled like death within a few days. Frank was still disappointed, because he was a dumb, horny teenager and he was not above hoping to see his crush naked. He was also not above doing things to _get_ his crush naked, but Gee was the worst at stripping down. It didn’t matter the reason. They just wouldn’t get naked. Ever. Frank thought it was pretty stupid, because Gee was fucking gorgeous with their clothes on, so they had to look even better with them off, right?

 

Frank had amazing logic. He was thinking that as he stepped into the shower, which meant that he wasn’t paying attention to the temperature of the shower water, which meant that he screamed “FUCK!” really loudly because the water was cold. He didn’t step out of the spray, though, because he wasn’t a fucking pussy and he could totally handle a cold shower. He took them all the time, this would be fine.

 

When Frank finished, in record time because the water had been colder than expected, he aggressively turned the water off and shivered his way into a towel. He padded himself off, and then placed the towel on his head as he wiggled into his underwear and shorts. He dropped the towel to the floor, tugged his shirt on, and decided that he could fix his hair later. When he was wrapped up in twenty blankets and not dying from really cold water.

 

“Nice hair, Frank.” Ray said as Frank passed him. Frank grinned up at his friend. “Thanks, man, it’s this new style called ‘the water was really cold and I screamed.’ You should really try it.”

 

“I will.” Ray said, and messed up Frank’s damp mohawk even more. Frank ducked under Ray’s arm and made his way out of the bathroom, pushing the dripping strands of his hair away from his face as he walked down the hall to his room. There was someone sitting outside his room, their legs out in the hallway and their stringy, dyed black hair covering their face. Frank’s lips curled up automatically. It was Gee.

 

Frank slid down the wall to sit beside them and leaned his chin on their shoulder. Because their terms of friendship said that he could. “Hey, Gee, whatcha drawing?”

 

“I don’t know. I think it’s Lindsey.” Gee raised their pencil to their mouth, chewing on the end. There wasn’t much on the page yet, just a rough sketch of a figure holding something. Maybe it was Lindsey. Maybe she was holding her trombone. Or a sword. Or a _trombone sword_. Frank smacked Gee on their arm excitedly. “Dude, dude, make that,” he pointed at the sketched object, “a trombone sword combo.”

 

Gee hummed, still biting at the pencil. Frank frowned. Usually Gee responded so other people’s suggestions with some enthusiasm. Frank didn’t know what was wrong, until he realised what he had said. More importantly, what he had just called Gee. Frank nudged Gee with his shoulder. “I called you dude. I’m sorry.”

 

Gee looked up, finally, their hair falling away from their face so that Frank could see them. Their makeup was a little smeared, but their eyes were wide and warm. “Frank, you call everyone dude. It’s not a problem.”

 

“But you… I--” Frank started, but he didn’t know where he was going so he shut his mouth and dropped his bundle of clothes to the floor. He took a deep breath, mentally getting his shit back together. “What did you come here for?”

 

“I don’t think I’m good enough to be a drum major.” Gee said quietly, their gaze dropping to the floor. Frank stared at them, his face all bunched up in confusion and irritation. “What the fuck, Gee, are you serious?”

 

Gee drew their knees up to their chest, hiding their sketchbook from view. “Kind of? I’m just not very commanding, and I don’t have any good ideas, and no one takes me seriously, and I’m probably gonna mess up at the rehearsal on Friday…”

 

Now, if this were an alternate universe where Frank had a working pair of balls and had already asked Gee out, this would be the moment where he grabbed them by their face and kissed the living shit out of them before reassuring them that they were not only the best drum major ever, but also the best person ever and that anyone who said otherwise would get their face pummeled by Frank. It wasn’t that universe, though, so Frank just grabbed Gee’s face, squishing their cheeks, and made them look at him. Frank was glaring a little, because Frank tended to look pissed off when he was trying to care about someone, but he wasn’t angry. “Gee, listen to me. You’re great. You wouldn’t have been picked if you weren’t, and what the fuck do you mean you don’t have any good ideas? You’re an idea machine. You bleed ideas like some people bleed blood. Like Pete Wentz bleeds poetry, or Brendon Urie bleeds ego. You’re amazing,” _and I love you_ “and I’m gonna find some kind of good luck charm to give you so that you can’t mess up on Friday, even if you wanted to.”

 

Gee smiled a little. Frank’s heart felt like it was going to break all of his ribs and come hurtling out of his chest, towards Gee. Frank didn’t want that to happen, so he lowered his hands from Gee’s face, even though Gee’s face was soft and smooth and warm. Frank continued staring/glaring at Gee. “Are we good?”

 

Gee nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, Frankie.”

 

“Anytime.” Frank said, leaning back even though he didn’t want to. “I’m your friend, I’m supposed to be supportive and shit.”

 

Gee leaned over, putting their head on Frank’s shoulder. Because apparently he didn’t have any good karma and the world was just testing his willpower for shits and giggles now. Gee tilted their head back so that they could look up at Frank. “Could you do the good luck thing? I’m not, like, super superstitious, but it might help with the nerves.”

 

“Hell yeah.” Frank said. “I’ll think of something. Somehow.”

 

Gee’s mouth quirked up. “You can always Google it.”

 

Frank nodded, careful not to disrupt Gee’s head. “I can always Google it.”

 

They sat like that for a few more minutes until Gee reminded Frank that if they got down to dinner early enough they might get actual good food, and then Frank was moving. He threw his dirty, wet, sweaty clothes into his and Ray’s room first, hoping but not really caring if they ended up on his side. He wanted free food, especially if it was better than average cafeteria style shit. He followed Gee down and out of the building, over to where the cafeteria was. They kept up a conversation about good luck charms and whether curses were a real thing on the walk over there, because Gee was totally superstitious and Frank loved urban legends like no one else.

 

Frank and Gee weren’t the first of the band to make it down to the cafeteria, but the place wasn’t too crowded, and the handful of people already there were just in line or getting a tray for their food. Frank grabbed two trays, and handed the second to Gee. Gee thanked him and then pulled Frank over to the pasta bar.

 

The pasta bar was a legend amongst the marching band kids, or at least amongst Frank’s friend group. The pasta bar didn’t look like much, only having three types of pasta and three types of sauce, but the toppings. The toppings were something else entirely. Frank was a vegetarian, which was fine when he was at home because his mom was such a good cook that Gordan Ramsey wouldn’t be able to insult her food, but it sucked when he had to eat outside of his house. High school cafeterias consisted of mystery meat and stale pepperoni pizza, and Frank really didn’t like eating fake cheese with meat juice five days a week.

 

He didn’t have to do that at the pasta bar, because the pasta bar had actual fresh vegetables. It also had tofu, which was nice, but last year there was facon one day, and Frank was really hoping that the facon came back. Frank has never actually had sex (yet), but he was pretty sure that facon could go up there with actual sex.

 

The two got their pasta (there was no facon, but Frank still had four more nights of hope) and found a table near the windows. Gee watched the rest of the marching band slowly filter in while nibbling at their pasta like they’ve half forgotten it existed, and Frank watched Gee because he kind of sucked at being subtle. Also, he knew that Gee was the least observant person in the world, so Frank figured he could get away with it.

 

“Mind if I join?” Both Frank and Gee jumped at Lindsey’s voice. She giggled at them as she sat her tray down at the seat next to Gee. “I’ll take that as a yes?”

 

“Yeah, no, you’re allowed.” Frank said, recovering first. He had to recover first, because he didn’t want Lindsey to ask him why he had been staring at Gee. Gee was allowed to space out and watch people, because that was just something they did. Frank didn’t have a good excuse for staring at Gee.

 

Well, he did, but it wasn’t an excuse he was prepared to announce out loud.

 

Lindsey smiled, her teeth showing. “Thanks Frank.”

 

Frank shoved a mouthful of pasta in his mouth and didn’t say anything. He did, however, wiggle his eyebrows, because that was a great decision and he knew exactly what he was doing. Lindsey seemed to get it, and so she winked back at him before biting into her pizza. Gee was back to pushing their pasta around on their plate and occasionally eating a bite. Halfway through her pizza and right as Ray and Mikey were sitting down on either side of Frank, Lindsey looked over at Gee. She frowned and nudged them. “You okay?”

 

Gee sat up and blinked rapidly, coming out of their headspace. “What?”

 

“Gee, you’re normally a space case, but this is a lot, even for you.” Frank said. It really was. Gee seemed super distracted, and Frank just hoped it had nothing to do with their worries about being drum major.

 

Gee waved a hand around dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.”

 

“Bullshit, Gee.” Mikey said, rolling his eyes behind his glasses. “You need to stop thinking so much about the drum major stuff, you’re gonna do fine.”

 

Gee narrowed their eyes. “I’m not thinking about that, Mikey.”

 

“Sure you’re not.” Mikey said. Ray leaned forward, over his pasta. “You were earlier, when you asked me about it.”

 

“And me.” Frank added in, because apparently he wasn’t Gee’s special stress resource and he was a little bitter about that. He shouldn’t have been bitter, because that was selfish and rude, but he was. He was going to deal with it like he dealt with everything else: by being a little shit. He was also going to be helpful because he cared about Gee and he didn’t want Gee to quit or anything because they felt like shit. That wouldn’t be fair to anyone.

 

Lindsey crossed her arms. “Am I the only one you didn’t tell, Gee?”

 

“... yeah, pretty much.” Gee said. They were glaring (weakly) at Frank, because this was all Frank’s fault. That wasn’t fair, because Ray and Mikey had been the first to speak up and Frank had joined in only because he thought he needed to. He hadn’t expected Gee to get all pissy about it. Frank did his best to keep his expression neutral as Gee took another bite of pasta, chewed it, and swallowed, all the while still semi-glaring at Frank. “I figured you’d go terrorise Jimmy into not being an asshole, and that wouldn’t be fair because there’s nothing _but_ asshole in Jimmy’s personality and I don’t want you to kill him.”

 

Lindsey took Gee’s free hand and squeezed it. “I wouldn’t kill anyone unless you asked me to, you know that.”

 

Gee looked away from Frank. “True. But… I just don’t know if I’m ready.”

 

“You’ve still got four days, Gee.” Ray said. “You’ll be fine.”

 

“My _mom’s_ gonna be there. I can’t fuck up in front of my mom.” Gee said. Frank leaned over the table, almost getting his saxophone strap (which he wore continuously for the hell of it) in his mostly empty bowl of pasta. “You won’t. I promised you a good luck charm, and you’re gonna get a good luck charm.”

 

“I know most of the freshmen. I can threaten them to take practice seriously if you need me to.” Mikey offered. Gee smiled but shook their head. Mikey shrugged, his eyebrows going up as he did so. He then looked down as his lap, and Frank leaned over to see that he had gotten a text from Pete. Mikey tilted the phone away from Frank before Frank could see what the text was of. Mikey frowned at his phone. “Seriously? I just got my pasta.”

 

Mikey tapped out a response that Frank couldn’t see and locked his phone. He looked up at the other four. “I’ve gotta go. Hold my pasta? I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

 

“I can steal a box and bring it up to your room, if you want?” Gee offered, but Mikey was shaking his head. He stood up. “Thanks, but I’ve got snacks in my room if I need them.”

 

And then Mikey was gone. Frank watched him leave, and he was pretty sure the others were watching him leave. It was weird; Mikey had been the kid brother of the band even when he was in middle school and Gee was the only Way in the band. Mikey always showed up for band practice, walking over after the middle school let out to watch the band practice on the field. He hung out with the band during the third quarter breaks and he showed up to nearly every band competition and event. Basically, Mikey had been a part of the band before he had actually been a part of the band, so the fact that he was leaving to go be on his own was weird.

 

 _Except,_ Frank thought, _is he really going to be on his own? He had just been texting Pete…_ Frank looked back over at Gee. “Hey, do you know if Mikey’s rooming with Pete Wentz?”

 

“I think so, why?” Gee asked. Frank shrugged. “No reason. I just saw Mikey text him before he left. There’s probably some roommate argument going on or something.”

  
Beside him, Ray muffled a snort with the back of his hand. “Or something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and please leave a kudo or a comment (or both!) if you enjoyed!
> 
> The next chapter will have more Petekey than Frerard but trust me, the Frerard is coming.


	4. The Ballad of Pete Wentz and his Slowly Disintegrating Sexuality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one knows what to do about Mikey, and they all assume that Frank has the answers. Frank does not have the answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to put the chapter up today because I had too much homework yesterday, but I don't think it's too late? I don't want to establish a publishing schedule and then not be able to keep up with it, but I'm trying to not go to long without publishing anything.
> 
> I'm also making a (probable) one-shot involving gym class woes. So that's happening.

The next morning, Frank was cornered by none other than Pete Wentz while he was waiting for the coffee to finish. Pete was nice enough to wait until Frank had made his coffee, and then he was dragging Frank outside into the sun even though it was too early to be outside without sunglasses and Frank had left his at the table with Ray and Lindsey (Gee was apparently trying to do their makeup before breakfast and would be joining the others shortly). Frank was not impressed, but at least he had coffee. At least he would be awake(ish) for whatever it was that Pete wanted.

 

Pete sat them down on one of the benches near the football field where the band practiced. “Okay, Frank, this is really important and I need you to not tell anyone about it. Except for Ray and Patrick. Because they’re cool and they already know.”

 

Frank brought the coffee to his lips and then flinched back because it was too hot. He ran his hand across his upper lip. “Okay, sure. What’s up?”

 

“You’re really gay.” Pete said. Frank rolled his eyes so hard he thought they were going to come out of his head. “No shit. And people other than Ray and Patrick know that. The whole band knows it.”

 

“I’m not talking about your sexuality.” Pete said.

 

Frank tried the coffee again, with actual success this time. “You just said I was gay.”

 

“I wasn’t finished.” Pete said, picking at the paint on the bench. “You’re gay, so you must have figured it out at some point, right? The whole looking at boys and wanting to kiss them thing?”

 

“Yeah…?” Frank wasn’t sure where Pete was going with this. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to give Pete blowjob advice, because Frank didn’t have any blowjob advice. He was still firmly placed in virgin land.

 

Pete let out a loud breath of air and nerves. Frank could relate. Pete nibbled on the edge of his thumbnail. “So. I think I like a guy.”

 

Frank nodded. “That’s cool. Is he in band?”

 

“Yeah… and he’s a pretty cool guy.” Pete said. He raised his head and looked around, suddenly nervous that someone else would be watching them and… pull out a camera? Frank had no idea why Pete was freaking out. Pete gave the area another scan before turning back to Frank. “I’ve actually kissed him. Like, making out kind of kissing, and it was going okay until he put his hand in my pants.”

 

“Did you not want him to do that?” Frank asked, frowning around the coffee. “Because if that’s the problem, just tell him. Consent’s the same whether you’re gay or straight or anything else.”

 

Pete shook his head. “No, I was okay with him going for my dick. I just… when he went for my dick I realised I was gonna have to touch his dick too, and I kind of panicked. I’ve never touched someone else’s dick, and the only non-mine dick I’ve seen was Joe’s, and that’s because I walked in on him after he and Patrick had been… touching dicks.”

 

Pete said the last part like it was hard for him to imagine Patrick touching dicks with anyone. Frank understood that, too. He knew Ray had a girlfriend, and he knew that Ray and Christa (the girlfriend) had gotten past second base at least once, but Frank couldn’t imagine Ray having sex. It was just weird. 

 

Frank set his cup down on the bench between his legs. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t want to be drinking coffee any time soon. He might spew it out because of something Pete said. “So, are you asking me how to get past the whole dick thing? Because I’ve never actually done the dick touching thing. At least not with someone else’s dick.”

 

“Shit.” Pete said. “Maybe I  _ should _ have gone to Patrick.”

 

“Too late.” Frank said. “You’re stuck with me.”

 

Pete sighed. “Alright. So, how do I not panic when I think about touching some other guy’s dick?”

 

“Maybe talk to the guy about it?” Frank offered. He really had no idea. He was more than willing to touch someone’s dick. Gee’s dick, especially, but if some other cute guy (or dick-bearer) came into his life, Frank wouldn’t say no. Frank rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, I also heard that handjobs are a good place to start? Because it’s like jerking off, but with someone else, and they’re usually mutual and you don’t have to worry about the guy’s semen tasting shitty? Also, I think it’s less weird to hold a dick than it is to put one in your mouth and, like, suck it. So. There’s that.”

 

“Okay.” Pete was nodding, eyes wide like Frank was spewing out the gospel or something. “Do handjobs feel like jerking yourself off or is it totally different?”

 

“Dude, I’m still a virgin, I don’t fucking know.” Frank said. “But I guess it’s similar to jerking off, except backwards since you’d be facing the guy instead of being… on the other side of the dick.”

 

“But the same hand motion?”

 

“Yeah, pretty much.” Frank said. “At least, that’s what it looks like in porn.”

 

Pete nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

 

Frank picked up his coffee, deciding it was safe to drink it now. “No problem.”

 

“I have one question, though. And you might not know the answer, and if you don’t, I don’t want you to go ask anyone about it.” Pete blurted out. Frank raised an eyebrow from behind the coffee, which had cooled off enough that he could take actual sips from it instead of just drinking it a single drop at a time. Pete looked around again. “Do you know if Mikey’s a virgin too? Because if he isn’t then I don’t want to give him a shitty handjob and ruin my chances forever.”

 

Frank choked on his coffee and half of it came out through his nose.

 

\-----------------

 

Frank had a hard time staying focused during practice that day, because he was still trying to figure out what to do with this new information.  _ Pete Wentz is trying to bone Mikey. Oh my God, I can’t believe I just thought that. Mikey is too young and innocent for this, I have to tell Gee. _ Except, Frank couldn’t tell Gee, because Pete had made him promise to keep quiet about it. Frank wanted to tell Gee anyway, because Mikey was their little brother and if anyone needed to know what the fuck was going on, it was Gee.

 

On a more positive note, at least Frank knew why Mikey was texting Pete and leaving dinner early. 

 

On a less positive note, Frank now had a mental image of Mikey and Pete making out. And Mikey was apparently adept enough in the field of sex to be willing to shove his hands down Pete’s pants. Frank had no idea how Mikey fit his hands in Pete’s pants, because those things were tight as fuck. 

 

Frank shook his head. He was not thinking about that. He was marching. With his saxophone. That he loved very much and didn’t deserve this. Not that Frank was talking to his sax about the whole Pete and Mikey thing, but Frank was pretty sure that he and all his instruments had a deep, personal connection. They weren’t sentient, and they didn’t talk to him (that would be fucking weird), but Frank had a connection to music, especially when it was through his own sax, or his guitar.

 

Frank managed to keep his mind off of weird Pete Wentz shit by concentrating really hard on the music and the steps. It was still fucking hot, and he still bathed in his own sweat for about eight hours (with a lunch break and two water breaks), but it kept him focused. Frank appreciated that.

 

Practice ended on time, and Frank walked over to the water buckets instead of trying to get first shower. He was really fucking thirsty, for some reason, and he knew that getting dehydrated was the worst thing to do at band camp. As he filled up his cup of water, he saw Ray approaching. Frank, because he was sometimes a good friend, grabbed a second cup and filled it with water for Ray. Ray took it and thanked Frank. “You skipped out on breakfast. You okay?”

 

“Yeah, no, Pete grabbed me.” Frank said, drinking and swallowing his water so that he wouldn’t spit it out. Frank hated spit-tanking. It was gross and it was one of the reasons he refused to drink almond milk. That stuff tasted nasty coming out through his nose. “He’s still having a gay panic, but I guess he took your advice to find someone who’s actually gay.”

 

“He came to you?” Ray seemed surprised. Frank nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t really get why either, it’s not like Patrick isn’t in a committed nerd relationship with Joe or anything.”

 

Ray shook his head. “In-fucking-credible. Did he tell you who  _ caused _ him to have a gay panic?”

 

“Yeah…” Frank nibbled on the rim of his plastic water cup, denting the edge with his teeth and leaving marks. “Did he tell you?”

 

Ray nodded. “We should probably tell Gee. They’d want to know that their brother’s making out with Pete Wentz, or anyone else for that matter.”

 

“I’m going to feign ignorance, but if you want to start a potential riot, be my guest.” Frank said. Gee didn’t hate Pete or anything, because Pete was kind of hard to hate once you got past the fact that he was just a little weird and off-kilter in general, but they were super protective of Mikey. And Mikey was super protective of them. It made Frank wish he had a sibling of some kind, because Gee and Mikey never had to worry about being friendless. They had each other. It was nice. 

 

It also meant that Gee was going to hold Pete to really high standards if he tried to date Mikey. Which, if Frank’s conversation with the guy was anything to go by, was going to happen soon. Probably by the end of band camp. 

 

“Gee’s gonna find out anyway.” Ray said. “Mikey tells them everything.”

 

“Yeah, but do you really want to be the one to tell Gee that their baby brother is putting his hands down other people’s pants?” Frank said. He narrowed his eyes. “Do you  _ really _ want to break the whole ‘Mikey is an innocent baby flower’ thing Gee’s got going on?”

 

Ray frowned. “Okay, true.”

 

Frank took a victory gulp from his cup. 

 

“But I still feel bad about saying nothing.” Ray said. Frank dumped the rest of the water over his head. What the hell, right? He probably wouldn’t be getting a shower until after dinner anyway, at this point. Frank shook his head, droplets of water getting everywhere. “Dude, Mikey’s probably going to tell them the second he and Pete make it official. Don’t worry about it. They’ll be the new star band couple by the time school starts.”

 

“Aw, man, they’re gonna be so gross, though.” Ray made a face. “Pete’s got no sense of boundaries anyway and Mikey’s a secret attention whore.”

 

“He totally is.” Frank said. He and Ray went back to the dorms and changed into clothes that weren’t sweaty or gross smelling, because Frank enjoyed not smelling like armpit and he was pretty sure that Ray was the same. By the time the two boys were changed and got to the cafeteria, Gee, Lindsey, and Jamia were already at a table, discussing something quietly. Frank looked over at Ray, raising his eyebrows in a silent question, but Ray just shrugged. “Don’t look at me, man. I don’t know what’s going on over there.”

 

“What if they’re talking about us?” Frank said. Ray laughed. “Yeah, because that’s the only thing anyone could ever talk about: Frank Iero and his dumb decisions.”

 

Frank frowned. “I haven’t done anything dumb recently.”

 

“This is band camp, Frank, and the talent show is tomorrow.” Ray said, and then told the pasta lady that he wanted marinara sauce. “You’re going to do something stupid. Like throw Starbucks cups off your face and call it art.”

 

“It’s totally art.” Frank said, and then to the other pasta lady, “Can I have spaghetti noodles please?”

 

“It’s not, and you got cold coffee everywhere because you weren’t actually finished with the coffee.” Ray said. He was right, which was unfortunate for Frank. Frank was just glad that no one in the band had made a big deal about it. Frank didn’t want to be known as coffee face or something equally as dumb. He was more than a guy with cool little talents. He could play guitar (a little) and saxophone (a lot), and his dad had taught him how to play drums before he fucked off to the other side of town with a girl eight years older than Frank. Frank was still bitter about that. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t ever tried out for percussion or drumline, even though he was pretty sure he could make it.

 

Frank zoned back in to current time as he and Ray approached the table. Frank grabbed the open seat beside Gee, because he could, and Ray sat down across from him. Ray didn’t make any suggestive faces at Frank, which was why Frank liked him best. Jamia leaned  _ around _ Lindsey to make a face at Frank. Jamia was a hypocrite, since she had already claimed the chair next to her crush.

 

Of course, Jamia hadn’t been pining after Lindsey for years, so maybe Frank was just the most desperate one at the table, and therefore got all the teasing. Frank could handle it. He was pretty hard core. 

 

“So, is anyone doing the talent show this year, or are we going to blindly trust all the freshmen?” Ray asked. Gee rolled their eyes. “My brother is one of those freshmen, and I trust him with my life.”

 

“We know.” Frank said.

 

“I can play my bass and then blow fire everywhere like I did that one time freshman year.” Lindsey offered. There was a loud chorus of “NO.” right after, and she threw her hands up, brown eyes wide. “Or I could not do that, nevermind.”

 

“You told me you almost set Jimmy’s house on fire.” Gee said. “I’m not risking band camp just so you can try to look cool.”

 

Lindsey fake-pouted at them. “You’re no fun, Gee.”

 

“I’m the mom friend.” Gee shrugged, stabbing at their pasta with a fork. Frank nudged their elbow. “Wait, I thought Ray was the mom friend. How many moms do we have in this fucking band, anyway?”

 

“So many.” Jamia said. “At this point, everyone who isn’t a freshman is probably a mom.”

 

“There are some really fucked up mothers in this band if you’re right, Jamia.” Ray said. Frank didn’t know who he was talking about, or if he was referring to a specific band member at all, but he agreed with Ray. There were some people in this band who were not ready to become mothers. There were some who would probably never be ready to become mothers. Frank didn’t really want to be a mother. He was also a fifteen year old boy and therefore shouldn’t be a mother. He made a face.

 

“You okay?” Jamia asked. Frank nodded. “Yeah, I was just thinking about this band trying to take care of a bunch of babies. I think we’d kill them all within a week.”

 

“Not on purpose, right?” Gee asked, and Frank nodded. “Not on purpose. Just, from lack of baby knowledge and shit like that. I don’t know what to do with a baby, do you?”

 

“No, and I’m really glad that health class doesn’t do that whole fake baby thing.” Gee said. “I’d probably forget the baby. I forgot Mikey once. I was supposed to wait for him after school but I just got on the bus and left him. He was in sixth grade and he cried because he thought that we all left him and moved to Los Angeles, and I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me for that.”

 

“He probably has, don’t worry about it.” Ray said reassuringly. Gee frowned. “Mikey doesn’t forget anything. So maybe he forgave me, but there’s no way he forgot about it.”

 

Lindsey nibbled bit down on one of the tines of her fork. “You could just ask him about it.”

 

“I could just ask him about it.” Gee said, nodding their head like they had finally figured it all out. Gee had a tendency to overthink things and come to the worst possible conclusion. Their friends did their best to keep them from going into a downward spiral of anxiety, though. Gee looked down at their half finished pasta bowl. “Should I do it now or later?”

 

“Whenever you’re ready, Gee.” Ray said. Gee nodded again. “Okay. I’ll do it at the end of band camp. Lindsey, if Mikey kills me, I want my funeral to be well attended and I want to be buried in a black dress. Not one of those night club dresses, but a really ridiculous Victorian kind of thing. Ray, can you write my eulogy? I trust you.”

 

“He’s not gonna kill you for something that happened three years ago, Gee.” Frank said, rolling his eyes. Gee turned to Frank and stared him down with their bright hazel eyes. “You don’t know that. I want to be prepared.”

 

Frank raised an eyebrow. “Okay, Gee. Whatever you say.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Please leave a kudo or a comment or something if you enjoyed it?


	5. The Show Must Go On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so this is the chapter where Things start to Happen. I think I'm going to have one or two more chapters after this, just to wrap everything up nicely.
> 
> There will still be more little one-shots, and also there will be a conclusion to everything that happens in this story, but in a different story. I don't have a title for that one yet.

The talent show went by without anything weird happening. Frank was a little disappointed, because he was pretty sure that talent shows were supposed to be full of acts that weren’t so much talent as they were glorified DaDa. Frank wasn’t quite sure what DaDa was, but he had heard Gee and Lindsey talking about it once so he knew it was some kind of weird artform. The rest of the week also went by without anything too weird happening (though there was some kind of prank going on with the drum line and leaving fruit outside of Kitty’s door that Frank didn’t really get), so Frank was really surprised when Friday came along and no one had gotten sent home early.

 

He was excited for the first ever showing of their routine, and actually woke up early that Friday. Even though he didn’t remember that it was Friday when he first opened his eyes and rolled over to see that the sun had barely begun to rise. Frank glared at the window through barely opened eyes for about five minutes before his brain fully loaded, and then he sat up and let out a little noise of excitement. On the other side of the room, Ray grumbled into his pillow. Frank threw his pillow at his friend. “Dude, wake up, we’ve got the show today!”

 

“Yeah, in like seven hours.” Ray said to his pillow. He wasn’t even awake enough to lift his head and acknowledge Frank’s existence. Frank was offended for maybe three seconds before his excitement won over. Frank got way too excited about marching band, and he knew it, but the whole band consisted of a bunch of nerds, so he didn’t feel very ashamed of his excitement. It was nice to not be labeled as weird for being passionate about something.

 

Frank got out of his bed and retrieved his pillow. “Dude, my mom’s gonna be here. She’s probably gonna film me, and it’s gonna be embarrassing as hell but I don’t give a fuck.”

 

“Go not give a fuck somewhere else, I want my sleep time.” Ray said, again into the pillow. Frank rolled his eyes. He grabbed a shirt off the floor and sniffed it. It didn’t smell too horrible, so he changed into it and then started scrounging around for a pair of shorts to match. He was so glad that they weren’t performing in full attire. It was too fucking hot for that now, in the middle of July. Frank was pretty sure that the freshmen wouldn’t be the only ones passing out if the band had to practice and perform in full uniform.

 

It would make them all seem pretty fucking hardcore, but at what cost? Frank wasn’t willing to risk it, just for the hardcore points.

 

Once Frank was dressed, he realised that he didn’t have anything to do for the next two hours. Breakfast didn’t start until six-thirty, and it was four fourty-five. He could shower, because no one else would be showering at ass o’clock in the morning, but he didn’t see much point in showering if he was going to go out and get all sweaty in a few hours. Besides, Frank was going home today. He could shower in his own shower at home. His nice, warm, single person shower that had great water pressure and didn’t have weird substances on the floor. Frank loved his shower at home.

 

He considered pulling out his guitar and playing it, but figured that Ray would not appreciate him doing so. He could do it anyway, but he didn’t want to find out what Angry Ray was like. No one had ever seen Angry Ray, and Frank didn’t want to be the first. He knew better. The nice ones were always the worst when they got pissed off.

 

He could always go to Lindsey and Gee’s room, and see if either of them were awake. There was a chance, considering that Gee was basically a vampire when left to their own devices and sleeping schedule, and Lindsey seemed to adapt to whatever Gee’s sleeping pattern was whenever they spent a lot of time with her.

 

Frank was pretty sure that they had both been bats in a previous life. Frank thought that that was pretty fucking cool, to have been a bat in a past life.

 

Frank snuck over to the girl’s dorms, which weren’t very well guarded. Frank was pretty sure that everyone involved in the band (chaperone or otherwise) knew that the majority of the band wasn’t straight and so gender separation wouldn’t do much to stop the sex from happening. Frank knew that at least two members of the band had slept with their roommates (Lindsey and Brendon, but not with each other, and Frank didn’t know who they had slept with but he knew it had to be someone because Brendon was a slut and Lindsey had a magical lesbian vagina or something). He hadn’t slept with either of his roommates, because he was too nervous to do anything about his crush on Gee and Ray had a girlfriend. Frank was not a homewrecker. He also didn’t think that he and Ray could ever sleep together. They were super best bros. No homo bros, even though Frank was a full homo and Ray was a Chris Evans homo.

 

Honestly, though, who _wasn’t_ a Chris Evans homo at this point? That man was fucking hot. Frank would totally bang if ever given the chance.

 

Frank was standing outside of Gee and Lindsey’s door while thinking about Chris Evans. And he wondered why he always felt uneasy when going to church. That was probably more because of the gay thing than the inappropriate sex thoughts thing, though. Frank rolled his eyes at himself and knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately, and he was faced with a very ruffled looking Gee. They had off-white paint in their hair and a stripe of dark red next to their nose, going up towards their eye. They stared owlishly down at Frank. “Why are you awake?”

 

“Why are you awake?” Frank said back, because, hey, valid question.

 

“Had a nightmare. Me and Linds decided to paint it out.” Gee opened their door further, so that Frank could see into the dimly lit room. There was a canvas on the floor, along with Lindsey and a tray of paints. Her hair was up in a messy bun, but half of it was already falling out and the free tips were caked in a bright blue. She wasn’t wearing any make-up, but she offered Frank a large and tired grin. “Hey, come on in and join the art therapy session.”

 

“I can’t paint for shit.” Frank said, but he came in anyway because he was a good friend and because he figured that he could at least watch them paint.

 

Gee grabbed Frank’s wrist and pulled him down, then handed him a paint brush. “Doesn’t matter. There’s not really a point to this, just paint whatever you need to. It’s stress painting. And if you’re not stressed, it can just be nerve painting or free painting or whatever. Just have fun with it.”

 

“Also, don’t touch the blue. It’s mine and I have a plan for it.” Lindsey said in the most serious voice ever, even though she was doubled over and her hair was getting into the paint again. She was dabbing her paint brush lightly against her side of the canvas, leaving behind small blue dots over a black background. There was a hair dryer beside her bare leg. Frank dropped his paint brush into the red paint that Gee had let him use. “Are you wearing pants?”

 

Lindsey looked up and grinned at him. “Nope, and neither is Gee. We shaved our legs on my bed earlier, before we decided to paint. It was fun.”

 

Gee stuck one of their bare legs out and Frank wondered how he had missed the fact that Gee wasn’t wearing anything except an oversized Batman t-shirt. He could see their Batman pajama pants in a small lump next to Lindsey’s. He couldn’t tell what pattern hers were supposed to be, but Frank knew Gee’s Batman PJ’s like his own. Gee wore them everywhere when Frank came over to the Way house.

 

“Frank, touch my leg.” Gee poked Frank with their toe. Frank stared at the leg being offered to him. He could touch Gee’s leg. He should not have been so conflicted about touching Gee’s leg. It was a leg. Everyone had legs. Gee’s legs weren’t even that extraordinary. They were really fucking pale, paler than the rest of Gee, who was actually kind of tan after being out in the sun for six days in a row. Frank raised a hand over Gee’s leg.

 

Lindsey let out a snort. “Dude, touch their fucking leg. They looked like you just kicked one of their cats.”

 

“Okay.” Frank dropped his hand down onto Gee’s leg. It was really fucking smooth and Frank’s eyes flew open in surprise. He looked up at Gee, while rubbing their leg. It wasn’t weird at all. “Holy shit, Gee. Your leg is so smooth what the fuck.”

 

“I know, right?” Gee said. “Shaving kind of sucks, but the smooth leg is so worth it… speaking of which, can I have my leg back now?”

 

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Frank let go of Gee’s leg and hoped that the bad lighting kept anyone from seeing his blush. He picked up his paint brush and swirled it around in the red again before dabbing it onto a corner of the canvas that hadn’t been claimed by anyone yet. Lindsey was back to poking little dots of blue on her part, and Gee was sketching out what looked to be Frank with a machete-saxophone in black and red paint. It looked fucking incredible. Frank told Gee this, and they gave him a small smile from under their wild, paint smeared hair.

 

Frank started drawing a sun, because he was five and also he wanted to make a sun that looked like it had been stabbed. He was sure that was symbolic or some Freudian shit, but he just felt like it. Maybe he was angry at the sun for being so hot and annoying or something. Who knew?

 

* * *

 

Gee was hiding in a little alcove on the outside of the building closest to the field. Frank had been sent in search of them because the band was supposed to go out on the field in twenty minutes and Jimmy was about three seconds away from stealing a helicopter and hunting Gee down himself. Ray had volunteered Frank to go find Gee. If that was Ray’s way of setting Frank up with Gee then Frank was no longer Ray’s friend.

 

That was a lie. Frank was always going to be Ray’s friend.

 

Frank was also kind of tired, because waking up at four in the morning and then staying awake was a bad idea. He was regretting that when he found Gee, who was just in their own little world, sketching away like they weren’t about to go on a field or anything. Frank walked up to them and put his hand on their shoulder. “Gee, hey, we gotta go.”

 

Gee’s hand stilled. “I can’t do it.”

 

“Gee…” Frank started. Gee looked up at Frank, their hazel eyes wide and terrified, and Frank really wanted to kiss them. Or at least just gather them up in his arms and cuddle away their anxieties. He sat down beside them and put his head on their shoulder instead, because that was a comforting friend thing to do. “Gee, you’re gonna be fine. We’ve been practicing all week, and, sure, it’s not perfect yet, but the show’s never perfect the first time we do it.”

 

Gee bit down on their fingernail, their free hand holding onto their sketchpad. They didn’t move, and Frank started to wonder if he would need to pick them up and drag them all the way back to the field. He didn’t know if he could; he was pretty strong considering that he was the size of a three year old, but Gee was bigger than him and Frank had never needed to carry them before. Frank was usually the one being carried around, because he was small and liked jumping up on people’s shoulders without warning.

 

Gee turned their head and pressed their face into Frank’s hair. Their voice was muffled when they spoke. “Did you get the good luck charm?”

 

Internally, Frank smacked himself in the face. He had totally forgotten to get something for Gee. He found himself nodding anyway, because he was an idiot and couldn’t admit that he fucked up. “Yeah, it’s back at the field. I’ll give it to you when we get there.”

 

Frank felt them smile against his head. “Thanks, Frankie.”

 

“Hey, I’m doing my best.” Frank said, and then he had to pull away from Gee, because they really did need to get back to the field so that the show could go on and Gee could prove to themselves and anyone else that they knew what they were doing. He could think of some kind of good luck charm on the way over, or at least that was the plan until Gee grabbed his hand and held on like Frank was the only person who could keep them grounded. Frank squeezed their hand and they walked back to the field hand in hand. Frank’s mind was just a never ending train of exclamation marks, and he still didn’t know what the fuck he was going to use as a good luck charm.

 

His first thought was to give them his saxophone strap, because he wore that all the time and considered it to have some good luck elements to it, but then he remembered that he was about to go out and play and so he needed it on his own person.

 

Frank was fucked, and he was running out of time because the rest of the band was already getting into formation on the side of the field. Frank’s heart pounded in his chest, and his grip tightened on Gee’s hand. He could give them something physical, as a gesture of good luck or something, right? But what the fuck was he supposed to give them? A hug wasn’t enough, Gee and Frank hugged all the fucking time and it never meant anything other than generic friendship shit.

 

Frank and Gee were at the back of the band. Frank could see Patrick holding two saxophones, his own and Frank’s, and looking around. Gee let go of Frank’s hand and shoved their hands into the pockets of their shorts. “So…”

 

“Aw, shit, Gee. Come here.” Frank placed a hand on either side of Gee’s face, holding them gently. _What the fuck am I doing?!_ His brain was screaming at him even as he leaned up and kissed Gee on the lips. For literally only a second, because Frank couldn’t let the kiss linger because then they would _know_ , and Frank couldn’t have that. So it was a short kiss, a kiss for good luck and not because Frank had forgotten to do something else. Frank pulled back, and tried to give Gee a confident smile. “Good luck.”

 

And then Frank fled over to Patrick, because he was too afraid to answer any questions Gee inevitably had about that kiss. Patrick gave him a weird look, but handed Frank his saxophone anyway. Thank God for Patrick Stump. Frank gave Patrick a shaky smile and fashioned his saxophone to his strap. “You’re the best, Patrick. Never fucking change.”

 

“I was just holding your sax, but okay.” Patrick said, and then Gee and Jimmy’s voices were calling out orders and the show was starting. Frank ran his tongue over his lips (they tasted like Gee’s cherry cola lipgloss, fucking hell) and put his mouth to the sax. He could do this. Gee could do this. The kiss didn’t need to mean anything, ever. And no one other than Gee and Frank needed to find out about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, thanks for reading! Please leave a kudo or a review (or both) if you enjoyed it!


	6. Everyone Knows (Frank's) In Over His Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank will do what is necessary to avoid talking to Gee about the kiss. Until he gets too bored to function.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've discovered that my writing specialty is "make them kiss five times without actually becoming a couple." That means that there will be a lot of pining and fake dating and frustration, and I'm sorry.
> 
> I'll make everyone get a happy ending, though, don't worry. I am a kind and benevolent fic author.

Frank didn’t get to see Gee after the show, at least not up close. He saw them grinning and hugging Jimmy and Lindsey both, and he also saw them pick up Mikey and his trombone and carry them both halfway across the field to their mom. Frank didn’t go near Gee, because he was a coward and he fucking knew it. Instead, he headed over to his mom and asked her what she thought. She thought it was pretty great, and she was impressed by Jimmy and Gee both, though she wasn’t sure what she thought about Jimmy’s new hair.

 

“Honestly, mom, I don’t know what I think about Jimmy’s hair either.” Frank said. They were both heading towards Frank’s mom’s car, because Frank had lied and said that he already said goodbye to everyone. Frank switched his saxophone case to his other hand. “It’s just weird. He’s weird too, but in, like, a good way.”

 

Frank’s mom hummed in a way that meant she either agreed with Frank or was considering calling up Jimmy’s parents and asking if they knew what their son was doing with his God-given hair. Frank was glad that his mom hadn’t seen him kiss Gee, and that Gee had been wearing guy-ish clothes. Frank loved his mom, but she could be stubbornly traditional about a lot of things. Boys staying boys and boys only kissing girls were two of those things. She wouldn’t even let Frank watch Project Runway or RuPaul’s Drag Race because she didn’t want him to get exposed to “homosexual tendencies.”

 

Frank thought it was a bit late for that. He was kind of really gay and he also knew how to ask Gee and Mikey to record all the shows Frank wasn’t allowed to watch at home. He wasn’t going to tell his mom those things, though, because Frank wasn’t an idiot.

 

He also loved his mom, despite being a teenager and a self-proclaimed punk. She was doing her best, and Frank couldn’t ask for much else. Also, he was pretty sure that he could convince her that there was nothing wrong with being gay, he just hadn’t tried anything yet. 

 

The drive back home was quiet, and Frank actually fell asleep even though he wanted to tell his mom everything he could about band camp. Certain things (like the whole Pete and Mikey thing) would be kept out, but band camp was mostly family friendly. Frank also hadn't seen his mom all summer, because he spent the summer (up to band camp) with his dad and his dad's girlfriend. 

 

Frank woke up as his mom pulled into the driveway and he felt more tired than before he had fallen asleep. He was so out of it that he actually asked his mom where they were, even though he was outside his own house. His mom just laughed and told him, and then ruffled his hair before unlocking the door. She told Frank that he could go up to his bedroom and take a real nap if he wanted to, and that she'd unpack for him, but Frank shook his head. “No, mom, it's fine. I'll get my stuff and then sleep. And I'll tell you about band camp when I wake up, because it was really fun and I want to tell you everything.”

 

That was a lie; Frank wasn't going to mention that he kissed Gee or that Pete Wentz came to him for advice on how to bone Gee's little brother. 

 

His mom smiled at him and grabbed his guitar even though Frank had told her that he would get everything. “I don’t know what I did to get a kid like you. All the other moms I talk to complain about how their kids don’t tell them anything, and yet I can’t figure out a way to get you to shut up about your life. I mean that in the best way, though, Frank. I like knowing about your life.”

 

“Thanks, mom.” Frank said. “I like knowing about your’s, too.”

 

 

* * *

 

The novelty of having a real bed and not having to wake up at seven in the morning to go outside for hours on end died off within days, and Frank found himself bothering his mom whenever she was home from work. She worked full time at the hospital, taking the night shift because she trusted Frank alone at the house at night. Frank hadn’t broken her trust yet, though he had spent the night at Gee and Mikey’s or Ray’s house on occasion. 

 

He didn’t want to go back to school, because what teenager did, but he wanted to be doing something. The house was small (because it was only him and his mom), and he couldn’t practice guitar all the time because his mom needed to sleep after her shifts. Movies were only fun in the middle of the night or with other people, and video games were pretty much the same thing. So Frank was bored.

 

He had initially wanted to go find his friends and hang out, but then he remembered that he had kissed Gee and (literally) fled and decided that that was not a smart idea. 

 

Frank was laying upside down on his bed with his head dangling over the side when his mom knocked on the door. Like most parents, she didn’t wait for a response and just opened the door, assuming that her two second knock was enough warning. Luckily, Frank hadn’t been doing anything embarrassing, just staring at the place where the ceiling and wall met. He flipped himself over onto his stomach and let his hair go wherever. “Hey mom, what’s up?”

 

“Mikey Way just called the house phone asking if you were okay.” She said. Frank then realised that he had about twenty or so texts and missed calls from various people in band and that he had indeed been ignoring all of his friends. Whoops. Frank’s mom made a worried face. “Is anything wrong? You’re usually never in the house, Frank.”

 

“Nothing’s wrong.” Frank said. His mom raised an eyebrow because mothers are all bullshit detectors and so Frank never stood a chance. Frank bit at the skin along the side of his pinky finger. “I mean, nothing’s super wrong. I’m probably being dumb… I should go over and tell Mikey and Gee I’m alive, shouldn’t I?”

 

“Yes,” Frank’s mom nodded. “And while you’re over there, tell Donna I said hello and that I’ll be happy to chaperone any of the band competitions.”

 

“Okay, let me get my shoes.” Frank said. His mom nodded and left without closing the door behind her. Frank rolled his eyes. Whatever, it was her house and if she wanted to make Frank close his own door then he’d close his own door. 

 

After he got his Converse on, because there was no point in closing the door if he was just going to open it again. 

 

Frank finished tying his shoes and reached up to his bed to grab his phone and earbuds. He also grabbed his wallet, because it had his school ID in it and his mom always made him take it with him. Apparently it would help identify him if he ever got killed on his way to a friend’s house. Frank had brought it up with Gee and Mikey once, and the three of them had ended up plotting out this whole comment about a shapeshifter kid who had a bunch of secret school IDs and so the police didn’t actually know who he was because his dead body didn’t look like any of the thousands of ID cards that were found in his backpack.

 

Frank didn’t know why anyone would walk around with a backpack full of little school IDs, but there were zombie shapeshifters in this comic and that was all he cared about. Gee and Mikey could handle the details of realistic (or not realistic) world building. 

 

Gee and Mikey’s house loomed in front of Frank sooner than he had expected, and he almost back-tracked off the driveway when he realised that he was there without paying attention. He really spent too much time there. It was convenient, though, because there were two friends who lived here, and Ray and Lindsey tended to crash in Gee’s basement room as well, so sometimes there were four friends in total, and considering Frank’s limited social group, that was basically a house party. Frank also liked getting to be around Gee (and Mikey, but he liked Mikey for different reasons) for extended periods of time.

 

Frank walked up to the back door and knocked. He had surpassed front door friendship years ago, and he knew that he could just head straight down into the basement (there was a key under the mat outside the basement door), but he wanted some extra time. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with that extra time (except panic, probably), but he wanted it.

 

Gee answered the door. They were wearing their pajamas, and looked like they hadn’t showered since band camp ended. They blinked owlishly at Frank. “You’re alive.”

 

“I’m alive.” Frank said. Gee smiled, and lunged at Frank, grabbing him and pulling him into a tight hug. After a moment of slight confusion, Frank hugged Gee back. “Hey. Um, you and Mikey didn’t really think that I was dead, did you?”

 

“You weren’t answering anyone’s texts. And you usually show up here on Friday night, even if we aren’t in school.” Gee said into the top of Frank’s head. Frank’s face was half squished into Gee’s shoulder, but he could see past them and so he was able to wave at Mikey (also in pajamas, but wearing a hoodie that Frank  _ knew _ belonged to Pete Wentz) when the younger Way sibling appeared. Mikey waved back. “Gee, let go of Frank.”

 

“Oh, yeah, sorry Frank.” Gee said, and stepped back. Frank waved them off. “You’re fine. Wanna go do something?”

 

“We’re in our pajamas.” Mikey said as Frank came in the house and closed the door behind him because he was a responsible member of society and also because most of the Ways were allergic to sunlight coming into their house. Frank would claim vampirism if he hadn’t seen Mikey and Gee outside their house in the middle of the day. Also, band camp made vampirism impossible. 

 

“So? Just change.” Frank said, shrugging and kicking his shoes off. “Also, I think my mom found my pack so we need to go to that one place that’ll sell to us so I can get some more.”

 

“You can bum one of mine if you need to.” Gee said, with Mikey in the background rolling his eyes because of how excited Frank got at the prospect of a free cigarette. Gee pushed some of their hair back away from their face. “Mom’s making me get a job because she’s tired of paying for all my art supplies, so I’ll have my own money soon anyway.”

 

“Gee thinks they’re an adult now, just because they’ve got a cool name tag.” Mikey said. The trio headed down to the basement and Frank made a face, silently telling one of the two to explain where the name tag had come from. Mikey was actually paying attention, so he was the one to explain. “They got hired at the little bookstore next to the Toros’ restaurant. It’s the one with the cool window paint. Gee’s name tag and shirt came today, and they’re super excited.”

 

“It’s because the name tag has ‘Gee’ on it, Mikey.” Gee bumped their brother with their elbow. “And because that store was the only place I actually wanted to work at,” they look over their shoulder at Frank, “Did you know that they’ve got a coffee shop in there? Because they do and if you ever want a job, you should apply to the coffee shop so that we can both get coffee together during our breaks.”

 

“Okay, first of all, I don’t know how to make coffee.” Frank said. “I blew up potatoes in the microwave, remember?”

 

“I’m pretty sure they’d teach you how to not blow up coffee, dude.” Gee said, and then disappeared into their room to change, leaving Frank alone in the hallway of the basement. Mikey had already slipped into his room, and he reappeared a few moments later in his usual attire of jeans and a band t-shirt that was way too fucking small for him. Frank wished he was tall and lanky enough to pull that off. He would probably look like an idiot if he tried wearing tight shirts. That, and the only sizes small enough to be tight on him would have to come from the kids’ section, and there weren’t any band shirts from the kids’ section. Just trucks and really shitty memes that no one actually said.

 

Mikey slid down onto the floor next to Frank. “I think I’m dating Pete. Also, why’d you kiss Gee?”

 

Frank shook his head. “Dude, that’s too much bombshell dropping at once. What do you want me to answer first?”

 

“Pete.” Mikey said, his eyes on Gee’s bedroom door and not on Frank. That told Frank that Gee still didn’t know about the giant question mark that was Mikey and Pete’s relationship. Frank was not going to get himself further into that than he needed to. He dropped his head back against the wall. “Uh, I guess… have you asked him if you’re dating yet?”

 

“No, we’ve just been making out a lot.” Mikey said, now messing with a piece of hair that wasn’t doing whatever he wanted it to do. Frank didn’t know what Mikey was trying to do with his hair half the time. “We also kind of had sex in his backyard once. But it wasn’t, like, real sex. We just kind of--”

 

“Mikey, please do us both a favour and shut the fuck up.” Frank pressed the heels of his hands against his closed eyelids as if that would somehow block out those unnecessary images of Mikey and Pete having kind of sex (whatever the fuck that meant, and Frank didn’t need to know) in Pete’s backyard. “I have been to Pete’s house, I will probably end up at Pete’s house again some time before I graduate, and I don’t need to know that the pool chair I’m going to lay on is where you did the do. We are friends, I am glad we are friends, but there are certain parts of friendship that should never be touched on and  _ this is one of them _ .”

 

“Okay, so no sex details.” Mikey said, and it sounded like he was trying not to laugh. “Got it.”

 

“Thank you.” Frank said, and opened his eyes. “But seriously, if you like him, ask him out. Serious asking out, not just ‘hey wanna make out?’ That doesn’t count as dating… assuming you  _ want _ to be dating Pete?”

 

Mikey nodded. “I do.”

 

“Okay then.” Frank waved his hands in the air, kind of jazz handy. “There’s your answer.”

 

“Cool.” Mikey said. He looked at Gee’s door again, and Frank wondered what was taking Gee so long. Maybe they were putting on makeup or something. Mikey poked Frank’s shoulder. “Why’d you kiss my… why’d you kiss my sibling? Are you two dating?”

 

“What, no!” Frank said instinctively. Mikey’s face didn’t move at all, but Frank could feel the silent judgement radiating past those glasses Mikey always wore at the end of his nose. Frank swallowed and was about to defend his outburst when Gee’s door opened and they stepped out. They weren’t wearing anything interesting, but in that moment, they were the most beautiful thing Frank had ever seen. Now he wouldn’t have to answer any more of Mikey’s questions. 

 

Of course, Mikey would remember that Frank hadn’t told him shit, and would hunt Frank down eventually. 

 

Gee hooked their thumbs into the belt loops of their jeans. “So, where are we going?”

 

“I have no idea.” Frank said. He grinned, very obviously avoiding Mikey’s gaze, because Mikey was most likely to be a mind reader and Frank didn’t want anyone reading his mind. Frank stood up. “It’ll be an adventure… or we can go see if the laser tag place is open?”

 

“Dude, fuck yeah.” Mikey said. “I fucking love laser tag.”

 

“Who doesn’t?” Frank said. He poked Gee's side because he was trying to keep things normal, even after the kiss. “Can you drive us there or do we need to get your mom?”

 

“I can drive.” Gee said. They ducked back into their room for a second to grab their wallet and their keys before following Mikey and Frank up the stairs. Mikey called out to his mom, telling her that they were going out and that Frank was with them. Frank didn’t hear a response, but Gee and Mikey kept walking. Because their mom was just that chill that she let her kids go out whenever. They had a curfew, of course, but other than that Mikey and Gee were allowed to do pretty much whatever they wanted so long as they told their mom first. 

 

Frank was a little jealous. 

 

The three of them got into Gee’s car, which was small, silver, and legally held five people but could physically hold about eight or nine. Frank got pushed to the back seat by Mikey, who apparently had younger brother privileges (which Frank thought were bullshit) and therefore got shotgun. Frank did get one of Gee’s cigarettes, so he wasn’t going to complain too loudly. Also, Mikey was in charge of the aux cord and Mikey had the best taste in music ever, so it wasn’t a bad ride at all. 

 

* * *

 

Two hours later, and the three of them were covered in sweat, out of breath, and really fucking thirsty. Frank also had a new pack of cigarettes sitting in the cupholder in the backseat of Gee’s car, but he didn’t want any at the moment. He just wanted to be somewhere that wasn’t warm at all.

 

He rolled down the window and stuck his head out of the car. He then regretted doing so because Gee was not the greatest driver ever and also they were going way too fucking fast for Frank to enjoy embracing his inner dog. He pulled his head back into the car but he didn’t roll up the window, and instead let the light breeze just relax him. This was what summers were supposed to be like: driving around with friends, getting absolutely nothing accomplished (Frank hadn’t done any of his summer homework and school started in two weeks), and just feeling like summer wasn’t ever going to end. It was great.

 

“Hey, Gee, can we go to that new pizza place?” Mikey asked. 

 

“Why? We’ve got pizza at home.” Gee asked. Apparently Gee was moving into responsible adult territory, now that they were almost a junior and would have to start looking into colleges.

 

“Yeah, but that’s frozen pizza and it’s not as good.” Mikey said. “They’ve got vegan things, so Frank can eat too.”

 

“I’m just a vegetarian, but I fucking love pizza.” Frank said, He resisted the urge to make like a child and kick the back of Gee’s seat. “Gee, let’s get pizza. Please? I can pay for my own, I promise.”

 

Gee rolled their eyes. “Fine, we’ll get pizza. Mikey, you’re paying, and you’re also explaining why we got pizza to mom when we get home.”

 

“Cool.” Mikey said. “Oh, Pete’s meeting us there, by the way.”

 

“Fantastic,” Frank said in the most sarcastic voice he could manage. Both Ways gave him a weird look through the rear view mirror, but Frank was wearing sunglasses so he was able to pretend that he didn’t notice them looking at him. Even though he had. Even though he was not looking forward to playing third wheel to Pete and Mikey as they (inevitably) worked out their shit over vegan pizzas.

 

It was a good thing Frank really liked pizza. It was also a good thing Gee would be there, because then Frank wouldn’t have to watch the lovefest on his own. He could suffer with someone, and then pretend like he hadn’t seen it coming when Gee asked him if he knew that Mikey and Pete were a thing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a comment or a kudo or something? I'd really appreciate it!
> 
> (Also, I'm on tumblr as pickledgerard if you want to talk)


	7. Literally Just Listen To Mr Brightside And You'll Know The Plot Of This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank deals with the consequences of his actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter of this fic, but there are other parts to this universe, and there will be a second part to this that takes place during Frank's junior year. I haven't started it yet but I will. Eventually.
> 
> Also, I apologise for how long this took. I've been really sick, and then there were a lot of family problems that made it hard for me to write, but that's being solved right now (yay) so I should be able to get back into writing more!

The pizza was pretty incredible, if Frank was being honest. He may or may not have made a few questionably orgasmic noises while eating, but he trusted Mikey, Pete, and Gee not to tell anyone about it.

 

Mikey and Pete were surprisingly hands off during the whole thing. Frank kept looking from the two of them to Gee, to see if Gee had picked up on some romantic undertones that Frank missed because he wasn’t related to Mikey at all. Gee didn’t show any signs of protective older sibling, though. They just picked off the toppings of their pizza and ate them like it was normal. Gee had a weird way of eating pizza, but Frank thought it was fucking adorable. They’d eat the toppings (meat first, then everything else), then peel off and eat the cheese, and then eat the rest of the pizza. It was a vertical pizza eating experience and it was the cutest thing ever. Except for the part where Gee was eating dead animals like they didn’t go around saving alive animals all the time. Frank couldn’t believe that Gee wasn’t a vegetarian.

 

He never pestered Gee about it, though, because he was a respectful person and if Gee wanted to eat a bunch of dead animals then that was their choice.

 

They all got their checks at the end (except for Mikey, who had already agreed to pay for Gee’s as well as his own) and Mikey told Gee and Frank to wait in the car because he needed to ask Pete something. Gee gave Mikey a questioning look, which got an eyebrow twitch from Mikey in response. Frank hated it when the two of them conversed in nothing but eyebrow. It meant he couldn’t follow their conversations, and he really liked some of the conversations that the Way siblings had. They were strange people, but in a cool way.

 

Gee leaned against the side of the car and lit a cigarette. Frank regretted putting his in the backseat, and he wasn’t going to be an ass and ask Gee for another one when his were _right there_. On the other side of the car door. Frank could smoke in the car, though, because everyone in the Way family smoked and so all their stuff smelled like smoke.

 

Frank slumped against the car, digging his heels into the gravel. “This might take a while.”

 

“Why?” Gee asked, blowing smoke out in a way that was unfairly attractive. “Mikey doesn’t do small talk. He has a phone.”

 

“I dunno, I just think that whatever Mikey’s asking Pete might have a multiple word answer.” Frank said, sinking towards the ground a little so that his shirt started to ride up in the back. He could feel the dense summer air on his lower back. It was a little sticky and gross. After band camp, Frank was used to sticky and gross.

 

Gee took another drag from their cigarette, blowing smoke out and staring off into the distance. Mikey and Pete were around the back of the building, out of sight. Frank figured that Mikey had planned that. Frank leaned his head back against the car and rolled his head so that he was looking at Gee. He figured it was okay. Gee wasn’t paying him much attention anyway, with their cigarette dangling out of the corner of their mouth and their hands mindlessly picking at their stubby, painted nails.

 

“Are you going to kiss me again?” Gee asked. Frank lost his footing in the gravel and made an idiot of himself for three seconds. Gee watched, not looking guilty for almost killing Frank.

 

“Um, why am I kissing you?” Frank managed to get out once he was completely vertical and only gripping the car out of fear and not necessity. Gee took the cigarette out of their mouth and tapped the butt with the back of their thumb. “It was your good luck thing, right? So, are you going to do it every game, or just for the big ones? Like, competitions and if we make it to any championship rounds.”

 

“I think I’ll just stick to the big ones.” Frank wanted to die. He wanted Mikey to hurry the fuck up. “Just so the magic doesn’t wear off, or some shit like that.”

 

Gee narrowed their eyes. “Do you even know how good luck kisses work?”

 

“Not really, I’m just kind of making this up as I go.” Frank said honestly, and was glad that the sun was setting and hiding the blush spreading across his face. Gee rolled their eyes and looked up at the sky. “Great. My anxiety relies on a guy who has no fucking clue what he’s doing or how it even works.”

 

“Okay, excuse you.” Frank leaned over and shoved at Gee with the hand that wasn’t on the car. “You did fine at band camp, so I know my shit. I just don’t know how my shit works yet, but we’ve got two years. We’ll figure it out.”

 

Gee smiled down at Frank. “Fuck yeah we will. You’ll just have to be my little magic man everywhere I go.”

 

“Um, no. The kissing is marching band exclusive.” Frank said, acting like the idea of kissing Gee all the time was horrible. It was not. It was the ideal. Gee frowned, almost pouting and Frank, and Frank felt bad. He leaned against Gee, resting his head on their shoulder. “I just don’t want to overuse the magic, you know? If I kiss you every time you get anxious, the magic or power or whatever the fuck is happening will stop and then we’ll be at competition and everyone’s instruments will break.”

 

“At the same time?”

 

Frank nodded. “Yep. That’s what happens when you abuse good luck charms, Gee. They come back and kick your ass.”

 

“Okay, so no non-marching band kissing.” Gee said, leaning their head against Frank’s and blowing smoke out into the night air. Frank raised a hand and batted at the smoke, getting it to go off in multiple directions. Gee laughed at him, bumping their heads together. Frank flicked them off, making sure to put his hand right in their face. They just pushed his hand away and put their cigarette butt out with their foot.

 

After a few more minutes of leaning on each other in comfortable silence, Gee shifted around Frank’s head. “Okay, where the fuck is Mikey?”

 

Frank made a series of panicked faces that Gee couldn’t see. “Uh. Talking to Pete?”

 

“I _know_ that, I meant what’s taking them so long?” Gee said, folding their arms across their chest. Frank was still leaned against their shoulder. They lifted their head off of Frank. “I’m going to go look for him.”

 

Frank grabbed Gee’s arm. Gently, so as to not make them suspicious. “Just text him, Gee, seriously. What if he’s talking about something private?”

 

“Mikey and I don’t have secrets, though.” Frank couldn’t see Gee, but he knew that they were frowning. He could hear it in their voice. Frank shrugged against Gee. “Maybe you do? I mean, Mikey’s starting high school, maybe he’s finally doing that broody teen thing our moms always talked about us doing.”

 

“I never did the broody teen thing.” Gee sounded offended. Frank laughed, getting off of Gee’s shoulder and standing up to his full height (which wasn’t much) so that he could look them in the eye. They were being completely serious. Frank shook his head. “Gee, come on, you’re the human embodiment of teenage angst. In a good way.”

 

Gee rolled their eyes (such angst and drama). “Whatever, Frank. You look like teenage angst too.”

 

“Yeah, but I embrace it.” Frank said, spreading his arms out like he was about to take a bow. He didn’t, though, because he was cooler than that, or at least pretended that he was. Gee raised an eyebrow and pulled out their phone to text Mikey. A few moments later, Mikey came back around from the back of the building, looking suspiciously rumpled and running his hands through his hair to try and fix it. Frank was not surprised. Gee was looking at their younger brother with the questioning look that Frank got from his mom every time he tried to get away with something he knew she wouldn’t approve of.

 

Gee unlocked the car. “Did you and Pete figure everything out?”

 

“Yeah.” Mikey said, crossing over to the other side of the car as Frank slid into the backseat and pretended like he didn’t want to see how this went down. “We’re good.”

 

“What’d you want to talk to him about, anyway?” Gee asked as they started up the car. They turned around, one arm around the back of Mikey’s seat, as they backed out. Mikey was still fixing his hair in the flip down mirror. “Just band stuff. Also, I thought he had my earbuds.”

 

“Did he?” Frank asked, because that was safe territory. Though, if Frank had thought about it for more than two seconds, he would have realised that Mikey wouldn’t wait that long to get his earbuds and that he was lying.

 

“No, but I have other pairs so it’s whatever.” Now that was a lie, and if the look Gee was giving him through the rearview mirror meant anything, it meant that Gee knew it too. Frank just made a “dude he’s _your_ brother, deal with him” face, because Frank was not getting in this. He would listen from the backseat and watch it go down, but he would not pick sides and he would feign any and all ignorance required. Gee narrowed their eyes at Frank but, thankfully, let it go and went back to interrogating Mikey as they drove Frank back to his house.

 

When they got there, Gee told Mikey to wait in the car and walked Frank to the door. Frank kept side-eyeing Gee as they walked, because Gee didn’t usually do this. It wasn’t because they were rude or anything, but because most everyone found it weird to get walked up to your own house. It was the twenty-first century. People could function on their own.

 

As Frank dug through his pockets to find his key (it had gotten wedged under his cigarettes), Gee hovered beside him, biting at their nails. Frank pulled they key out but didn’t move to unlock his door. “Gee, you okay? You seem a little off.”

 

“If you hate kissing me we don’t have to do it ever again.” Gee blurted out. Frank stared at them. They ran their hands through their hair, messing it up. “I mean, I know you’re only into guys, and I’m not a guy so it’s probably really weird for you. I don’t want to make you do something you’re uncomfortable with, just so I can feel better about myself.”

 

“Gee,” Frank said, wanting nothing more than to pull Gee close and explain his feelings in full detail. “You’re my friend, and I’d do this no matter who you were, or what you looked like. If it’s for a good cause, I’m okay with giving up my super gay card.”

 

“Okay.” Gee said. They stepped forward and then stepped back, which Frank knew was them making an aborted attempt at a hug. Frank rolled his eyes. “Come here, let me hug you.”

 

They did, and Frank wrapped his arms around their waist, pulling them in close and pressing his face to their shoulder. Gee had one hand on the back of Frank’s head and was kneading at his scalp a little. Frank let it happen, and just held on to Gee. It was a pretty great moment, even though it was strictly platonic (because Frank was an idiot) and reassuring more than anything (because Gee was a little paranoid about everything).

 

And then Mikey honked the horn. Gee and Frank jumped apart, and if Frank hadn’t been outside of his own house, he would have flipped the younger Way off. Gee subtly flipped their younger brother off, ruffled Frank’s hair, and left. Frank could hear them talking to Mikey, shooing him out of the front seat. Mikey waved at Frank as Gee backed out of Frank’s driveway, and Frank waved back before unlocking the front door and going inside.

 

His mom wasn’t home, so Frank headed straight to his bedroom and left the door open so he could just fall down on his bed, face first, and be all dramatic. He went over all the things that had happened that day, and came to the conclusion that he had fucked himself over. Sure, he got to kiss Gee, but Gee thought it was a friend thing, and that because they weren’t a guy, Frank wouldn’t ever be interested in them. That was quite the opposite. Frank was very interested in them, so much so that he had to get up off the bed to close and lock his door.

  
His mom walking in on him lying face down and being dramatic was okay. His mom walking in on him jerking off while thinking about Gee was not. And Frank had done this before; he knew what he was doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've decided to take requests on the side. If there's anything you want to see (in this universe), just leave a comment, or go ask me on my tumblr (pickledgerard)!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment or a kudo if you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and please leave a kudo/comment/something? I'll try to update somewhat frequently, even if it's not this fanfic in particular.


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